


Songs of The Northern Prince of Fire

by tullyblue12



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Dadko & Momtara, F/M, Found Family, Pakku is a reluctant father, Slow Burn, Vignettes, Zuko with the Gaang, season 1 AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:41:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 36,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23659294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tullyblue12/pseuds/tullyblue12
Summary: His name's Zuko. His best friend is the moon. He doesn't bend very well, and his father is the Fire Lord. Also, Master Pakku is going to be so mad if Zuko runs away to join the Avatar.
Relationships: Aang & Toph Beifong & Katara & Sokka & Suki & Zuko, All other ships are minor but there will be plenty, Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 385
Kudos: 1070





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! Welcome to Songs of the Northern Prince of Fire. The reason it's called "Songs" is because each chapter will consist of several short scenes (very short). I wanted to do this to keep the story fun and fast-paced, while also covering content from all three seasons of the show (maybe even beyond who knows?). This has been so fun to get started on, and it's a light-hearted change from the angst of my other story Hopeless. 
> 
> Hopefully, the AU speaks for itself, but the basic thing you need to know is that instead of Ursa disappearing after Lu Ten's death, she sends Zuko to the North Pole to keep him safe after Azulon threatens his death in response to Ozai's attempt to usurp the throne. Since the story unfolds from Zuko's perspective, other events will be discovered as the story goes on.
> 
> Please let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy!

## A Room Prepared 

_Never forget who you are_.

His mother’s voice echoes in the back of his head. 

“Zuko, you are a guest of the Northern Water Tribe.”

He bows his head, the way Master Pakku told him to. “Thank you, Chief Arnook.”

He looks over to Pakku for confirmation that he said it right. The old waterbending master doesn’t give anything away. He doesn’t even look back. 

When the ceremony is all over, Pakku walks him back to the house.

“This is your room. It’s been prepared for you.”

It isn’t as spacious as his room in the palace, but he has the whole side of the house to himself. Warmer clothes in his size sit on the corner of the desk. A spear lays across them. Other than that, the room is very _plain_. 

“You begin your warrior training in the morning.” 

He nods. Pakku is about to walk away when Zuko asks, “How long am I going to stay here?”

“Are the accommodations not to your liking?” 

“No, it’s not that. I just want to know what happened.” 

Why had his mother taken him to the harbor in the middle of the night? Why had he been delivered alone to the abandoned Western Air Temple, only to be found by a masked stranger who dropped him off on an ice floe outside the city walls? 

“Zuko, I think it’s best to begin thinking of this place as home.”

“But it’s not!” he exclaims. 

“Your mother went through great lengths to get you here. She intends for you to stay.”

_Never forget who you are._

He is his mother’s son, and his mother wants him here. He owes it to her. 

## The White-Haired Girl

At least bowing to royalty isn’t different in the Northern Water Tribe. He just isn’t considered royalty anymore. 

The Chief has a single child, a daughter about his age. Her name is Yue. Master Pakku suggests for them to play together. 

“How come your hair’s white?”

“When I was a baby, I was very weak. The Moon Spirit saved me, and her mark left my hair white.” 

“I was weak as a baby too.”

“Really? Do you have a spirit mark?”

“No, the spirits didn’t save me. I just got stronger on my own, I guess.” 

“I bet they _did_ save you. They made sure you had a safe journey here.” She looks up to the sky gratefully. “They’re always looking out for us.” 

“Okay,” he mumbles. He’s going to have to talk to Master Pakku about these playdates he’s organizing. 

Then she asks, “Do you want to race to the end of the bridge?” 

“Isn’t it slippery?”

She smiles. “Yes.”

“Okay.”

Their race ends in a tie. She isn’t so bad after all. 

## A Snowball Fight

“Would you care to tell me _why_ ,” Pakku begins, eye twitching, “you are soaked from head to toe?”

The clothes sag uncomfortably on Zuko’s frame. Even with his inner fire, he shivers beneath the weight of them in the snow. 

“Yue and I got into a snowball fight,” he explains through chattering teeth. 

“ _Princess_ Yue,” Pakku corrects. Pakku’s been adamant in instilling Northern Water Tribe tradition in him. 

“Sorry. _Princess_ Yue and I got into a snowball fight. She won.” 

“Clearly.” 

Zuko stands, shivering, waiting for Pakku to dismiss him. “Ugh, can I go take a warm bath now?” 

“Not yet. Wait another minute.” 

“But it’s so _cold_.” 

“Think about that next time you let our princess bully you into a game.” 

Zuko sighs. “I bet Chief Arnook isn’t making _her_ stand in the cold.” 

“I bet not. You’re free to clean up now.” 

“Thank the spirits,” he mutters. 

## Clear Your Mind 

“Could I fight with two swords?” the young boy asks unsurely. Pakku has been kind to him. Not as kind as his uncle had been, but more kind than his father. Still, Zuko isn’t sure if the waterbending master will sanction this request. So many things are different here. Pakku isn’t even in charge of the weapons training. That’s up to Master Nanouk. 

“You don’t like your spear?”

“No, I do. I’m really getting the hang of it. I just don’t want to lose my sword training.”

“Why _two_ swords?”

“It’s just how I trained with Master Piandao.” 

“Master Piandao, you say?” Pakku rubs his chin thoughtfully.

“Yes, Master Piandao taught me everything I know about sword fighting.” 

“I’ll talk to Master Nanouk about it. It is not traditional for boys to learn with two swords.”

“My uncle always told me it was very important to use both. He said it teaches balance.” 

Pakku smiles. It is so rare to see the older man smile. Zuko feels a twinge of pride to have caused it. “Yes, your uncle would say something like that.” 

“How well do you know my uncle?”

“Well.” 

“And my mother?”

“Well.” 

“What about my father and grandfather?”

“I hardly know them at all.” 

“Oh.” 

“I bet you wouldn’t know my sister either.”

“I would not,” Pakku tells him. “Clear your mind, Zuko.”

Pakku always says “ _clear your mind”_ whenever Zuko finds himself homesick. Sometimes, Zuko doesn’t even say anything about home aloud, but he must get this look on his face because Pakku always _knows_. 

Zuko straightens his shoulders and sets his mind to thoughts of sword fighting. Already, he has accomplished more than many of the other boys who are older than him. He is only twelve years old, and Nanouk suggested to Pakku that he train with the fourteen year old group of boys instead. 

_Take that, Father_ , Zuko thinks to himself. Then he takes a deep breath. 

_Clear your mind._

## Integral

“Tell me the truth, Yue. Am I a prisoner?” 

“I don’t think so, Zuko.”

“But I can’t leave.” 

“Neither can I,” she reminds him. 

“Yeah, but, you’re the chief’s daughter. You live in the best house, and you get the best food. Why would you want to leave?” 

She shrugs. “Why did you?”

“I didn’t choose to leave the Fire Nation. My mom woke me up one night and told me to be quiet as a rabbitmouse. Then she took me through these tunnels beneath the palace and handed me off to someone in the harbor. Now I’m here.” 

“You have no idea _why_? Was anything happening when you left?”

_Grandpa’s gonna kill you._

“Not a clue, but if my mom did it, I know there was a reason.” He groans. “I just want to know how long I have to stay here.” 

“Come on, it’s not so bad here.”

“I know that. I do like it here.” 

“And Master Pakku’s nice, isn’t he?”

“He’s okay.” 

“My dad says you’re going to be one of the best fighters we have.”

“Really? But I’m not a waterbender.” 

“I overheard him talking to Master Nanouk. They both agreed that you’ll be _integral_ to our military. That was the word they used, _integral_.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know. And if I ask, he’ll know I was eavesdropping.” 

“For a princess, you’re not that helpful.” 

“For a prince, you’re not that charming,” she returns. 

“Pakku says I’m not a prince anymore.”

“Not here. But if you go back home, I’m pretty sure you’re still one. I mean, it’s not like you're banished, right?” 

He says nothing because he really doesn’t know. He returns home to find Pakku practicing his bending outside their house. 

“Hey, Master Pakku,” he calls, purposely breaking the elder’s concentration because he knows how much Pakku _hates_ to be disturbed, “what does _integral_ mean?” 

Pakku covers him in snow. 

## Just Practicing

“Do you use two swords because you’re no good with one?”

Zuko smirks and throws his second sword into the snow directly in front of the older boy. 

“Here,” he says hotly. “You’ll need it.”

The other boy’s face reddens. “You don’t belong here, Fire Boy,” he taunts. 

Zuko knows he doesn’t. He stands out among the rest of the tribe, who have been born here to parents born here, and so on and so on for generations. Not a single person on this pole has ever left it, for fear of the Fire Nation. 

“Fire Boy, huh? Never heard that one before.” 

The boy lunges at him clumsily with both swords. The boys only just started sword training. Chief Arnook and Master Nanouk agreed that it was beneficial to train the boys in an array of weapons. They even imported a shipment of steel from the Earth Kingdom, the first time in years. 

Zuko deflects the attack, using his single sword as effectively as he can. He stays calm during the attack, the way Master Piandao told him to. _A sure head guides sure hands._

He sees immediately the gaps in this boy’s stance. He can easily disarm him. Even easier, he can injure him. He thinks about if that’s what he wants to do. It would be so easy, just a tiny thrust of his left wrist upwards…

“Zuko! Hahn! What is the meaning of this?” 

Both boys drop their swords in the presence of Master Pakku. 

“We were just practicing,” Hahn says. 

“Were you?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Zuko?” Pakku asks, raising an eyebrow. 

“Just practicing,” he agrees. 

“I see. Hahn, return to your house immediately. Zuko, it’ll be sea prunes for you for the next week.”

“What? Master Pakku, please! We were just practicing!” 

“I’m disappointed in you, Zuko. This is the first time you’ve ever lied to me. Let it be the last.” 

On the fourth night of sea prune stew, which Pakku eats happily, and Zuko barely samples for fear of vomiting all over Pakku’s table, he promises Pakku he will never lie again. 


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited by the feedback I've received for this story! I hope you enjoy this update! The Gaang will feature in the next one

##  The Koi Pond

“This is my favorite place in the whole city,” Yue tells him, leading him down a narrow path.

The air gets warmer and warmer through the door. Finally, they reach the spirit oasis Yue is always telling him about, a beautiful koi pond at the center of a lush garden, in the heart of the tribe's citadel. 

“What is this place?”

“It’s the spirit oasis, like I told you.”

“This is where your parents brought you as a baby?”

Yue nods. “They prayed and dipped me in the pond’s waters.” She looks down at the two koi fish in the pond, circling each other, one white and one black.

“Do they ever stop?” Zuko wonders, entranced by the two of them. 

“No, and they never will.” 

##  We’re Fourteen Now 

“Zuko, you’re not even ready yet! We’re supposed to go to Kaia’s party.”

Zuko grimaces as he wipes the sweat from his brow. He unclenches the grip on his dual swords and immediately feels an ache in his shoulders from the intensity of his training. 

“I’m sorry. I lost track of time.”

“Princesses aren’t supposed to be late.”

“You go on ahead. I’ll catch up to you.”

“You said you’d be my escort. I can’t just show up at her party without one.” 

“Why not?” 

“Zuko,” she says in a voice that tells him he should already understand why, “I’m sure there are rules for the nobility in the Fire Nation.”

There are. As a child, he had to sit on his knees whenever he was in the presence of his grandfather. Azula could never walk in front of him at formal affairs because he was first-born. 

“Well, here there are rules for princesses, especially ones who need to start thinking about marriage.” 

He rolls his eyes. “You’re too young to be thinking about that.”

“I’m my father’s only child, and a  _ girl _ . I have to think about it, so I can provide the tribe with an heir.” 

He understands, but he doesn’t think it’s fair to put that kind of pressure on her. They’re only fourteen. “I don’t think you’ll find him at Kaia’s party.”

“He’s probably already there. All of the noble children will be there.”

“So why do I have to go?”

“You’re a member of Pakku’s house. He’s the greatest waterbender of the tribe.” 

“I’m not blood,” he reminds her. 

“It doesn’t matter. You’re his heir. Even if you're adopted, it makes you nobility.”

_ Adopted nobility _ . Is he really Pakku’s heir? The thought never occurs to him until then. He always thinks of himself as a guest of Pakku's house, not a member. If he stays here for the rest of his life, will he marry a noble girl and carry on Pakku’s line? Will he really be a true man of the tribe? He wants to be. He wants to belong. He’s spent three of his most formative years here. He’s starting to accept that he’ll never go back to the Fire Nation. 

_ They'll never even want me back after this. _

“Give me five minutes.” 

He dances every dance at the party, wearing his finest blue furs. It’s what noble children do. 

##  Common News 

“Zuko, a word.”

He groans. He tries to cover it, so Pakku won’t notice, but it doesn’t work. 

“Is something the matter?”

“No, Master Pakku.”

“Good. Sit.”

Zuko sits himself in the chair across from Master Pakku at their common table. A half-empty pot of tea rests in the middle of the table. Zuko notices Pakku’s cup is empty beside an opened scroll. Before they speak, Zuko places his palm to the kettle until he sees steam. Wordlessly, he refills Pakku’s cup and sets it back in front of him.

Pakku barely glances up from the scroll. 

“There’s been news from your homeland.”

“From my mother?”

“No, it’s common news. Your grandfather Azulon has died.” 

His sister’s taunting voice sings in his head. 

_ Grandpa’s gonna kill you _ .

“Then my uncle is Fire Lord, like we want. Right?”

“No,” he replies bitterly. “Your father usurped the throne with some statement that it was your grandfather’s dying wish.”

“My  _ father’s _ the Fire Lord?”

“Yes. This makes your situation all the more sensitive. He’ll likely have more resources available if he wishes to launch a full-scale search for you.” 

“He won’t do that. He’ll want Azula to succeed him. She’s always been his favorite.”

“That’s what concerns me.” 

“Why? That’s good. It means I can stay like my mom wanted. It means he doesn't want me.”

“Zuko, as long as you live, you’re a threat to your sister’s succession. Your uncle Iroh handed the throne over without conflict. He may suspect that won’t happen with you and Azula,” Pakku explains matter-of-factly. 

His father has the means to kill him. His father  _ wants _ to kill him. It‘s a sobering reality.

“You will not leave the Citadel, do you understand me? Some children your age start to get  _ ideas _ and venture out. I will have nothing of the sort.”

“Yes, Master Pakku.”

“And I need to know where you are at all times.”

“Yes, Master Pakku.”’

“Very well.”

##  The Festival of the Full Moon 

“Where are you going?”

Zuko pulls the hood of his parka up. His blue formal clothes peek out from underneath.

“To pick up my date for the Festival of the Full Moon.”

“Kaia’s house is a five-minute walk. You don’t have to leave yet.”

“I’m not going with Kaia this month,” Zuko says.

Pakku’s eyes narrow. “And just who are you going with this month?” 

Zuko swallows hard. “Ninka. Her house is a twenty-minute walk.”

“Did you and Kaia have a falling out? I thought you two went well together.”

“We were never ‘together’,” Zuko elaborates. “We were just friends.”

“Are you and Ninka 'together'?”

Zuko shakes his head. “Just friends.”

“You and Yue?”

Man and boy reply in unison, “Just friends.”

Pakku tells him as he walks out the door, “I’ll never understand the youth.”

##  Pai Sho

His plans with Kaia fall through. Her family is hosting Master Silla’s family for dinner. He isn’t invited. 

“It’s probably because you toyed with her feelings, escorting Ninka to the Festival,” Pakku suggests with a wry smirk. 

“I told you, we weren’t together.”

“Don’t you wish you were now?”

Zuko groans. “I guess I’ll go read my scrolls.”

“You can always join me in a game of Pai Sho if you’re looking for something to do.”

Master Pakku loves Pai Sho. “I don’t know. It looks complicated.” 

“The key is strategy. Your mother and uncle are great Pai Sho players.”

“Really?” 

“Yes. Didn’t they ever teach you?”

They didn’t. He shakes his head. “There wasn’t a lot of time for board games.” 

“Of course. Your father would have wanted all of your time to go towards your firebending.” 

That’s exactly what happened, not that Zuko minded. He would train as long and hard as he could if it meant he would beat Azula one day. 

“Well, don’t just stand there. Grab the Pai Sho set from the desk. Let’s see how strategic Fire Lord Ozai’s son is.” 

He’s not strategic. He’s not patient. He’s not all that interested in the game, but it’s something to do. 

##  Ursa

If his father is the Fire Lord, then his mother is the Fire Lady. He imagines her sometimes, pictures her in his mind, and worries when her face starts to fade from his memory. He doesn’t have any portraits of her here in the North Pole. They don’t have anything related to the Fire Nation here.

He thinks Pakku will tell him if his mother writes, but he never says a word. The four-year anniversary of his arrival is coming up. 

He wonders if Pakku will be disappointed if he asks. He’s integrated so well into their society. He engages with the girls his age. He’s friends with some of the other boys in his classes. He enjoys the Festival of the Full Moon. He keeps his room clean. When he graduates at the end of the year, Master Nanouk has asked him to stay on and teach some of the younger classes. 

Still, he wants to know. 

“Is there any news from my mother?” 

Pakku doesn’t even look up from his dinner. “No, Zuko.” 

“Shouldn’t there be?” 

“Fire Lady Ursa does not have the luxury to write because she misses you. If she writes, it will be a message bearing grave news. So take it as a blessing that you haven’t received anything from her.” 

Zuko nods solemnly. 

“Clear your mind, Zuko.” 

He does. The image of his mother fades a little more. 

##  A Warrior of the Northern Water Tribe 

The boys form a line, sitting on their knees, spears across their laps. Blue paint marks their cheeks. The tribe stands in attendance, eager to see their newly graduated warriors. Most boys finish their warrior training at the age of sixteen.  Zuko has just celebrated his fifteenth birthday. 

Zuko kneels between Hahn and a boy named Silla, one of Zuko’s friends. Chief Arnook passes them carrying a porcelain bowl of water from the spirit oasis. A drop is placed on the center of each boy’s forehead. 

Zuko shivers when it’s his turn. 

“They kneel before me as boys and rise as men. By Tui and La, these men are warriors of the Northern Water Tribe. May the spirits protect them as they protect us.” 

The crowd repeats in a chorus: “May the spirits protect them as they protect us.” 

He tries to stay still as long as possible. He tries to keep his face neutral as his head remains bowed in recognition of the spirits. 

“Rise, my sons,” the chief says. 

Zuko stands. 

He sees Master Pakku in the crowd, looking on proudly. Zuko, son of Fire Lord Ozai, is an official warrior of the Northern Water Tribe. 

When the ceremony is over, some of the boys in his class want to meet up and drink spirit wine. Zuko agrees to meet with them and helps himself to a couple celebratory glasses. Too much always gives him a headache in the morning, which Pakku takes every measure to exploit. 

He spends the end of the night across the table from Pakku, sipping tea and playing a game of Pai Sho. 

“Admit it,” he says because the ceremony and the wine have made him bold, “you’re proud of me.” 

“Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves,” rebukes Pakku. Then he starts laughing, and Zuko starts laughing, because there is no man more prideful than Master Pakku. “That said, I _am_ proud of you.” 


	3. Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we finally enter Book 1 of the show. Please enjoy! I'd love to know what you think!

##  Sweet Sixteen

“Happy birthday, Zuko,” Yue says sweetly. She gives him a new whalebone dagger made just for him. He loves it. The characters for Tui and La are inscribed on the blade. 

“Thank you, Yue.”

“May the moon and ocean spirits protect you.” 

For his sixteenth birthday, he expects to receive something special from Pakku. After all, it is his coming of age. “Come here, boy. I do have a present for you.”

Zuko smiles. 

“It is  _ advice _ .” 

Now he frowns. 

“Today marks your coming of age. Already, you have mastered your weapons training. You are an official warrior of our tribe. Now, you are ready to have your marriage arranged.”

“I don’t want to get married yet,” he protests. 

He likes a lot of girls in the tribe. He’s gotten to know them over his five years here, and though they are fun to hang out with at parties, he can’t see himself  _ marrying _ any of them. Not yet. 

“I’m not making you. My advice to you is to focus on improving yourself. Focus on your training. Focus on your dedication to the tribe.” 

“How come you never married, Master Pakku?” Zuko asks suddenly. 

Pakku doesn’t answer. Instead, he serves Zuko a bowl of frozen custard. Zuko stares down at the bowl and wonders if his eyes defy him. Pakku  _ never _ lets him have sweets. Pakku never serves him either. He always serves Pakku. 

But then the waterbending master hands him a spoon. “Happy birthday, boy.” 

##  The Honored Guests

The three honored guests sit at the head table on the right side of Chief Arnook and Yue. He sees one of the boys talking to Yue, whichever one isn't the Avatar. 

He watches the other two, the Southern girl and the Avatar, who look on at Master Pakku’s display in absolute awe. There is an empty seat beside the Avatar from one of Pakku’s students. He decides to take it. 

“Pretty cool, right?”

“So cool,” the Southern girl echoes. 

“Master Pakku’s the most renowned bender of our tribe.”

Yue leans over when she notices him there. “Avatar Aang, may I introduce you to Zuko? He is a member of Master Pakku’s house.” 

“Wow, nice to meet you, Zuko.” 

“And you, Avatar.” 

“I’m Katara. Nice to meet you.” 

Yue says, “Zuko, this is Katara’s brother, Sokka.” 

“Does Zuko look familiar to any of you?” asks Hahn, seated beside Yue as he often is now. The three guests look over in confusion. “If he does, it’s probably because he’s the Fire Lord’s son.”

Sokka chokes on the bite of food in his mouth. Katara’s eyes widen. 

“You’re Ozai’s  _ son _ ?” she practically spits at him. 

“Technically.” 

“Well, that seat’s taken,” she says, scowling at him through the bright blue eyes of the Water Tribes, “ _ technically _ .” 

“Katara,” the young Avatar admonishes, but Zuko’s already getting up from the chair. Five years here has given him the ability to recognize when someone is determined to hate him.

Pakku would be furious if he lost his temper, especially during his students’ display, so he says nothing as he bows his head deferentially to Yue. 

When the display is over, he dances with Kaia and Ninka. The honored guests dance with no one. 

##  The Necklace

“So, how does it look?”

Yue smiles shyly. “It’s pretty.”

“Can I see?”

She pulls her parka down enough to reveal the brand new betrothal necklace carved just for her. The stone is much larger than other betrothal necklaces, and it is a pale blue. It looks nice, he has to admit. 

“It is pretty,” he agrees. “I couldn’t make one that good.”

“You’ll have to one day.”

“Oh, yeah. Who am I supposed to marry?” 

“Don’t worry. Pakku will choose someone for you. It takes the pressure off choosing someone for yourself. It also takes away the joy.” 

He smiles sympathetically at her. “Say the word, and Hahn will be at the bottom of the sea, no questions asked. It would be my personal pleasure.”

She shakes her head at him. “I suppose I should have a better attitude about my duty to him.”

“No,” he says to her, because his best friend deserves nothing short of true happiness, “you should raise hell.”

##  Early Morning

Who the hell is pounding on his door? And who is up so  _ early _ ? The only ones who are ever up at this hour are Master Pakku and his students, and that’s only because Pakku makes them get up this early. It’s barely dawn. Even the sun isn’t up yet. 

He swings the door open to find  _ Katara _ . 

“Is Master Pakku here?” 

“No, what’s wrong with you? Do you know what time it is?” 

“He refused to train me yesterday.” 

“Of course he did. You’re a girl.”

“Ugh, why are things like that here? I traveled the entire world to find someone who could teach me waterbending! He won’t even talk to me at the training grounds. I thought if I caught him at home and got the chance to talk to him-” 

“Look, there’s a whole system in place here. Master Pakku teaches male waterbenders. Yugoda teaches female waterbenders. Master Nanouk teaches male nonbenders.”

“So what am I supposed to do?” she demands, frustrated tears in her eyes. 

Zuko sighs. “Well, for one, maybe don’t show up at Master Pakku’s house and demand he teach you. That’s not going to get you anywhere with him. He respects order. Two, in your blind rage, you’re forgetting that he’s teaching the Avatar. I’d recommend learning from  _ him _ , in secret.” 

Her eyes light up. “I hadn’t thought of that!” 

“I’m glad I was able to help,” he says sarcastically. “Now please remove yourself from my porch.”

“Wait, Zuko, I wanted to say I’m sorry about that dinner. I shouldn’t have judged you like that.” 

“Don’t worry about it. It was worse when I came here.” 

He closes the door before she can say another word. 

##  Keeping Watch

“So, how did someone from the Fire Nation end up as a warrior of the Northern Water Tribe?” asks Katara. 

He shrugs. “My mother sent me here.”

“Why?”

“To protect me.”

Katara smiles, absentmindedly touching the pendant at her neck. “Mothers do anything to protect their kids.”

“Yeah, they do.”

They’re sitting beside each other on the edge of the bridge, watching out for anyone who could pose a threat to the couple below. She taps her dangling feet together impatiently. “How long are Sokka and Yue going to be?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t wait out here all night. Tell your brother to hurry up.”

“My brother? Tell your princess to get back up here. She’s the one who organized this whole thing. It’s her fault we’re out here waiting in the cold.” 

He bends a small flame in the palm of his hand. “Here,” he says. “It’s not much, but it’s something.”

“You’re a firebender?”

“Well, yeah. Not a good one.”

“No one told me you were a firebender.”

“No one likes to remember. I look different, but I’ve been here so long they can look past that. They just don’t like it when I bend.” 

She probably won’t like him now either. “I know what it’s like to hide that part of you. I wasn’t allowed to waterbend back home.”

“Really? But you’re from the Southern Water Tribe.”

“All their waterbenders are gone. The Fire Nation captured them all. That’s why I wasn’t allowed to.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” 

No, it’s just his father’s, and his grandfather’s, and his great-grandfather’s _.  _

_ Mom, I see why you hid me up here. I don’t want to be like them either.  _


	4. Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!

## Keeping Watch Part 2

“How’d you find the Avatar?”

“Oh, he was just stuck in an iceberg near my home. I was out bending on the water, and I discovered him by accident.” 

“Wow.”

“I know right? Nothing’s been the same since.” 

“You’ve traveled the whole world?”

She nods. “We’ve made lots of stops. We’ll have to make even more. Aang needs earthbending and firebending teachers too.” 

Then she gasps, the breath leaving her throat in a cloud of frosty air.

“What?”

“ _You_ could teach Aang firebending.”

“No, I couldn’t. I’m no good at it.”

“But you’re a bender!” she reminds him. “I’m not the best waterbender, but I’m still here. I’m getting better. You should come with us. Maybe you can learn from a master, too.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I really need to stay here.”

“Why?”

“This is where my mother chose for me to be.”

He makes the most of the life she threw him into at the age of eleven. He is an esteemed warrior, top of his weapons class. He is a member of a noble house. Down the line, he’ll make a good marriage. If this is where his mother wants him to be, this is where he’ll stay. 

“Well, if you change your mind, we’d be happy to have you.” 

## Keeping Watch Part 3

“Zuko, I am _so_ _glad_ I went to Yugoda’s class today.” 

His eyebrows shoot up. This is the complete opposite of her reaction to having to attend Yugoda’s class yesterday.

“Did you learn a lot?”

“I sure did. You’re never going to believe this. My Gran-Gran is from here.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, she was engaged to be married. That’s where she got _this_ necklace.” 

His eyes dart to the blue pendant at her throat. 

“Yugoda thought I was engaged.”

“You’re not?”

“No,” she says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. 

“That’s what those necklaces are for. They’re betrothal necklaces. Everyone here probably thinks you’re engaged.”

“We don’t have them back home. I thought it was just an ordinary necklace.” 

“Well, it’s not.”

She wrinkles her nose. “I’m too young to be engaged.”

“How old are you?” 

“14.”

“Yeah, that’s too young. Marrying age here is 16.” 

“How old are you?” she asks. 

“16.”

She laughs at him. “My condolences to your future bride.” 

“Shut up, and tell your brother to hurry.”

She playfully hits his arm. “Give them another minute. This is their last night together.”

“It better be. I’m not staying out here another night. I told Yue this would be the last time I’d cover for her.”

“I really like Yue.” 

“She’s sweet, too sweet for Hahn,” he admits.

“Have you always been friends?”

He says fondly, “Since I came here. She didn’t care who I was, or where I was from.” 

“Why does she have to marry someone she doesn’t love?”

“It’s just a part of life here. Some parents take romantic attachments into mind, but Yue didn’t have any.”

“Until now,” mentions Katara, looking down at her brother and Yue at the water’s edge.

“Yeah, until now.” 

## Found Out

“Those disrespectful little cretins,” Pakku mutters over his morning tea.

“Um, is something wrong, Master Pakku?”

“I happened upon the Avatar teaching his little girlfriend some of my waterbending techniques last night, after I explicitly told them women do not practice those techniques.”

“Oh, wow. You don’t say. You would think they’d be more discrete if they were going to even attempt to do something like that.” _Like I told her to be_. 

“You would think. It just goes to show how little respect they have for our culture. I suspended his study immediately.” 

“You won’t teach the Avatar?” asks Zuko incredulously. 

“He thinks he’s above order.” 

“He’s been missing for 100 years. His return marks a new era.”

“If _he_ is the one that’s going to lead us into a new era, I don’t want any part of it.” 

“Master Pakku-”

“Do you remember what you were told when you first came here, when all you could ask me was when you were going home?”

“Yes.”

“And what did I always tell you?”

“Patience is a bitter plant, but its fruit is sweet.” 

“Exactly. The Avatar has no patience. That’s not anyone for you to admire.”

“And Katara? She just wants to learn how to bend. She can’t learn from anyone back home. The Fire Nation took all the waterbenders.” 

“I am aware.”

“How come we’re so safe up here? The Fire Nation leaves us alone, but our sister tribe was reduced to nothing.”

“You talk like a true warrior of the Northern Water Tribe.”

“I am one,” he insists. 

Pakku smiles. “Then you know that we’ve fortified ourselves. The Fire Nation wouldn’t dare touch us.”

“What if they do?” 

_What if they find out where I am? What if my father comes for me? What if everyone dies because of me?_

“They won’t.” 

## Is There A Water Tribe Word For Agni Kai? 

“You have to come now,” insists Yue.

“What is it?”

“Katara’s challenged Master Pakku.”

 _Of course she has_ , he wants to say. 

But his feet take off before his lips can form the words. He can hear the swish of Yue’s skirts in the city streets as she follows him to the training grounds. 

A crowd has formed around the two of them. Scattered cheers erupt every time Katara breaks Pakku from his perfect form, which happens more often than Zuko expects. 

She really is a prodigious waterbender, but her crude forms and limited years are her undoing. She was never going to win. He wonders if she knew that from the start, but she’s already proved more command of her element than some of the students Pakku’s had for _years_. 

He has her pinned in a cage of ice. Still, she writhes against it, desperately trying to fight her way out. Master Pakku approaches her slowly, and if this were the Fire Nation, he would take his hand to her and burn a part of her body. He would shame her. He would make her wish she’d never challenged him in the first place. He would be the victor of the Agni Kai. 

But this isn’t the Fire Nation.

He approaches her clutching the blue necklace she’d lost during the fight. He looks at her again and sees the woman he was going to marry so many years ago. He frees her from the ice and commends her ability. 

He hands the necklace back to her. “I expect to see you and the Avatar here tomorrow. Before sunrise.” 

## The Festival of the Full Moon Part 2 

“So how was your first official lesson with a master?”

Katara smiles so wide, he feels himself mirror her. Her excitement is contagious. “It was everything I thought it would be and more!” 

“Good.”

“We should bend together,” she offers.

“We don’t bend the same element. Besides, you bend with the Avatar.”

“You can call him Aang, you know.”

“Fine. You bend with _Aang_.” 

“Don’t you want to practice?”

“I told you. It would make the others uncomfortable.”

“Have you ever tried it?” 

“Katara,” he says brusquely because he’s grown tired of her pestering. “I have to get to the armory. I’m training the eight-year-olds today.” 

“Oh, okay. Catch you later.” 

“Yep. Catch you later.” 

She looks sad. He supposes he can spare one minute just to ask, “Hey, have you heard of the Festival of the Full Moon?”

She smiles again. “No. What’s that?”

“It’s this party we put on every month. The whole tribe celebrates together every full moon. And it’s part of the tradition for boys to ask girls in the tribe to go with them.”

“That sounds amazing.”

“It is. Would you, uh, want to go with me?”

It’s the first time he’s ever seen her look shy. “Sure.” 

He nods casually, and then remembers Master Nanouk. “Now, I really have to go.” 

He can hear her laughing when he takes off running. 

## Sky Bison Journey

“You’ll never believe what I did last night,” says Yue dreamily.

“I don’t even want to know.”

“Sokka took me on a sky bison journey.”

“I thought you were going to stop seeing him.”

Yue continues on as if she didn’t hear him. Maybe she didn’t. Pakku told him once that those in love tend to act like idiots. “Zuko, it was so magical. You have to ride a sky bison one day.” 

A halfhearted reply dies on his lips as heavy black snow falls down on them.


	5. Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Siege of the North

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am having so much fun writing this story. I hope you are having fun reading!

##  The Day We Feared 

“The day we have feared for so long has arrived. The Fire Nation is on our doorstep. It is with great sadness I call my family before me, knowing well that some of these faces are about to vanish from my tribe.”

This is Zuko's moment. He stands alongside the other warriors of the tribe. Sokka joins them. Each man standing here has water in his blood, except for him. He has fire in his veins, but this is his time to prove that his heart belongs to the people who have kept him safe all these years. It is his turn to repay the favor. 

##  Commander Zhao Has Been Promoted 

Hahn proves his incompetence in a single sentence.

Sokka clearly knows more about the opponent. Arnook cedes the battle plans to him. 

“Their commanding officer is named Zhao.”

“Wait,  _ Commander Zhao _ ?” asks Zuko, recalling a man from one of his grandfather’s war celebrations. Commander Zhao and his father had been friends. 

“It’s Admiral Zhao now. He’s been promoted.”

“Zuko, your knowledge of the Fire Nation navy has never been more vital.”

While Sokka has knowledge of the commanding officer, Zuko has a little more insight into the military history of the Fire Nation. It was a subject he studied diligently before he was uprooted in the middle of the night. 

“If they’re attacking now, prepare for a siege. They’ll be armed with fire cannons to melt the protective ice barriers.”

“The benders will be on site to repair them,” Arnook insists.

But it doesn’t assuage Zuko’s fears. If the Fire Nation is attacking for the first time in generations, then it means something’s changed to make them think they can win. 

##  The Honor Card

When it comes time for the soldiers to leave the citadel, Pakku holds him back.

“I want you off the front lines.”

“But, Master Pakku-”

“No, listen to me. I know what you’re thinking. You’re a good warrior. You want to defend the tribe, but you have nothing to prove today.”

“I need to be out there with the others.”

“You are different from the others!” Pakku screams at him. Then a gentler voice, he says, “You are a prince.”

“I’m not a prince anymore, you always said so yourself.”

“You are a prince of those people out there, and if they get their hands on you, they will deliver you to your father, and your father will kill you. Do you understand me?”

“We can’t let them capture the Avatar.”

“They won’t capture the Avatar.”

“You said they wouldn’t attack us, and here they are!” he yells back. “They’re right outside!” 

“Stay inside the citadel.”

“WIth the women and children?” he demands repugnantly. 

“And the  _ Avatar _ ,” Pakku reminds him, but it does little to make Zuko feel better. The Avatar is just another child, too. 

“If I don’t?” 

“Then you dishonor the sacrifices of your mother and uncle. And you dishonor me.”

Zuko grumbles. Pakku just  _ has _ to pull the honor card before he goes back to mend the fortification. Shamefully, Zuko walks back inside the citadel. After this, he won’t even be able to consider himself a warrior. 

Katara finds him, trudging through the citadel, moping.

“Zuko!” she shouts. “What’s wrong? Has something happened to Sokka?”

“No, your brother’s fine. Your waterbending master on the other hand is a jerk. He wants me to stay in here.” 

“Good.”

“Good?” 

“I need your help defending Aang. Yue’s taking him to the spirit oasis, so he can ask the spirits for help, but when he goes into the Spirit World, he’s completely vulnerable.”

“Come on, let’s go.”

They both break into a sprint to the oasis. They find Aang sitting still beside the koi pond, calling on the spirits. It’s so warm inside, both he and Katara shed their parkas. He loves it inside the spirit oasis. The warmth reminds him of his mother’s garden. 

##  Two for Two 

“Well, well, well. Look what we have here. The Avatar  _ and _ the Moon Spirit. It looks like I’m two for two.”

Katara takes a defensive stance. Zuko draws his swords. “Not another step,” Katara says to Zhao. 

“Ah, the little water tribe girl intends to put up a fight. How cute.”

Zhao shoots a blast of fire at her, which she deflects, barely. The flames go up in steam before their eyes. 

“Guard the Avatar,” Zuko tells her. “I’ve got him.” 

“Do you, boy? You’re not a bender, or else you wouldn’t have weapons. Take me, for example. I don’t carry weapons.”

Zhao advances towards them, shooting flames. 

Zuko misses each of the attacks, but Zhao is inching closer and closer to the oasis. As he approaches, Zuko drops the swords and prevents him from reaching in with a whip of fire at the water’s edge. 

Zhao looks back in shock. “Wait just a minute.  _ Prince Zuko? _ The only son of Fire Lord Ozai, here in the North Pole?” 

Flames flow from his knuckles. It is the truest proof of his identity he has. 

“Well, this is certainly a surprise. Your father misses you.”

“My father wants me dead.”

“Is that what they tell you, here in the North? He’s desperate to have his son back.”

“And my mother, how’s she?” 

“So you don’t know? She was arrested for treason, Prince Zuko, on account of her crimes against the line of succession. Your grandfather sentenced her to death.”

Zuko screams as he firebends rapidly at Zhao.

The admiral braces himself for the attack and engages in one of his own, laughing. “Aren’t we hotheaded?” he taunts. “You didn’t let me finish, Prince Zuko. When your father came to power, her sentence was reduced to life in prison.” 

Zuko has tears in his eyes at the thought. He will never know if it is the truth, but it distracts him enough for Zhao to catch him off guard and pluck the moon spirit straight out of the oasis. The moon glows red, and Zuko realizes he has just let his entire tribe down.

##  Duty

Yue falls into Katara’s arms. “Zuko, it’s time.”

“Time for what?” Katara asks, but they don’t answer. 

Zuko continues to challenge Zhao, who taunts him with the moon spirit in his hands. Zuko can’t use his firebending. One misplaced strike will harm Tui. 

Katara tries unsuccessfully to bend. 

Then the Avatar returns to his body. “Stop!” he shouts. “If you harm the moon spirit, you will harm everyone in the world. Balance will be lost.” 

Zhao kills the moon spirit in his bare hands. 

A red world becomes black as the moon disappears from the sky. 

“There’s nothing we can do,” laments Katara, holding Yue, staring at the fish’s corpse as Zhao leaves the oasis a conqueror. “It’s over.”

The Avatar falls to his knees on the edge of the oasis. “It’s not over,” he says in a voice which is not his own. And then his eyes glow blue, and he leaves the oasis, to right Zhao’s wrong. It’s the Avatar’s duty to restore balance.

It’s Zuko’s to face Zhao. 

##  No Survivors

“I’m taking you back to the Fire Nation!” Zhao shouts, mad with power, drunk under a moonless sky. 

“I don’t think so.” 

Zuko uses the agility of his sword training to deflect Zhao’s attack while inflicting a few of his own. 

“You never finished your training, Prince Zuko. You’re no firebending master.” 

“And you haven’t kept up with your practice.”

Though Zuko doesn’t actively bend, he practices his breaths and his stances. He never wanted to lose it completely. He just hasn’t advanced much beyond the level he reached in the Fire Nation. 

“You’re a traitor to your people. A traitor to your father. A traitor to your nation.”

“Tell me about my mother!” he screams, blasting waves at his opponent that impress him in their ferocity. His bending is heightened by his rage. 

“I already told you.” 

“So it’s the truth? She’s in prison.” 

“Your father should have killed her. She’s a traitor too.” 

The Avatar plucks him from the bridge before Zuko can unleash a final blow. La’s waters swallow him whole. Zuko walks away as he drowns, bathed in the light of the moon returning. 

##  The White-Haired Girl Part 2 

Katara’s holding her brother outside the Spirit Oasis when he returns. She looks up when she hears his footsteps. Tears linger in her eyes. 

“Zuko, I’m so sorry,” she tells him. 

His heart beats in his ears. “Sorry? For what? What’s happened?” 

“It’s Yue,” she says. Sokka shudders against her. 

“I have to go tell Chief Arnook,” Sokka says, breaking from his sister’s embrace. 

She looks at him sadly but lets him go. She holds her hand out to Zuko. “Do you want to go into the oasis?” 

“Is she in there?”

“Her spirit is.”

“No, I don’t need to go in.” 

He needs to be alone. Before he leaves her to find Master Pakku and locks himself in his room, he asks, “Did she suffer?”

Katara shakes her head. “No. I told her she didn’t have to do it, but she insisted. She said the moon spirit saved her for this purpose.”

“She was right.” His throat feels tight. He coughs a couple times, trying to clear it. He remembers the little girl who was so proud to embody the power and mercy of the moon spirit. He remembers his sweet, strong friend who loved her white hair. “I’ll see you around, Katara.”

“You don’t have to be alone.”

“I want to be.” 


	6. Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starting Season 2  
> Songs from The Avatar State and The Cave of Two Lovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it!

##  The Stowaway 

“Look, Master Pakku gave me water from the spirit oasis,” boasts Katara proudly. 

“Cool,” he tells her genuinely. It will be a while before he can step into the spirit oasis again, if he ever can. He misses Yue so much. Now his new friends are leaving too.

“So I guess this is goodbye,” he says.

The proud smile on her face morphs into a hopeful one. “It doesn’t have to be.” 

“Katara-“

“You’d love it, Zuko. I know you would.” 

“Pakku would kill me.” 

“By the time Pakku realizes, we’ll be in the Earth Kingdom.” 

He can see his mother in his mind. Zhao may have been telling the truth. His mother could be in chains. He has to save her. He’s the only one who can. 

“Okay, I’ll go with you.”

She grabs his hand. “Come on, let’s get you on Appa. I can hide you under the luggage before the others notice.” 

“Shouldn’t I pack a bag first?”

Katara frowns. “You have ten minutes. I’ll distract Master Pakku so you can stow away.”

“Thanks, Katara.”

“Go,” she says, shooing him away. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.” 

  
  


##  The Stowaway Discovered 

He sneezes beneath the blanket. His nose isn’t used to Appa yet. 

Sokka yanks away his cover.

“Katara, did you steal a prince?” 

“No!” she exclaims.

“Well, then please explain to me why there’s one underneath your parka.”

Aang doesn’t seem to mind the extra person. It’s Sokka who keeps yelling at his sister. 

“I didn’t steal him,” she insists. “He wanted to come. Right, Zuko?”

Zuko makes the mistake of looking down from Appa’s saddle. It's a long way down. “I’m starting to rethink this.” 

##  The Avatar State 

He’s only awake because Katara can’t seem to get comfortable. She keeps shuffling on her bed, while the other two snore, preventing him from going to sleep. He misses his room in Pakku’s house. It was quiet there. 

“Hey, it’s usually easier to sleep when you stay still,” he tells her. 

“Any more advice, _ oh wise one _ ?” 

“You can tell me what’s got you so upset. You’ve been in a mood since dinner.” 

She sighs. “Aang agreed to help the general. They’re going to start experimenting with the Avatar State in the morning.”

His eyebrows raise in the dark. “Because trying to unleash unfathomable power without any knowledge of how it works sounds like a  _ great  _ idea.” 

“My thoughts exactly. We have no idea how it could affect Aang.”

“Or everyone else. You saw what he did at the North Pole.”

“Aang isn’t dangerous.”

“Aang _isn’t_. The Avatar State is.”

“No one will listen to me.”

“I’m listening. We’re just at an Earth Kingdom military base. We don’t exactly get a say in how things go here. We just have to hope for the best. Try and get some sleep.” 

“Okay.” 

He doesn’t know which one of them fell asleep first, but she is still sleeping when he wakes up. He feels the sun so much stronger now that he’s outside of the North Pole. It’s nice to feel the sun.

##  The Mud Doesn’t Wash Out 

“Did I just get mud  _ sneezed  _ on me?” Zuko asks disgustedly.

Sokka, Katara, and Fong all look down at their similarly-coated clothes. 

Katara turns to Fong. “I told you this wasn’t going to work.”

“There has to be a way!” the general exclaims. 

“I’m going to go get cleaned up. Catch you later, gentlemen. I hope you come to your senses by then.”

“Um, Katara,” begins Sokka, “can you help us out here? A little magic water to wash the mud out?” 

She pretends she doesn’t hear him. 

##  A Couple Realizations

“Whoa whoa whoa! We did not sign up for this!” shouts Sokka. 

As Zuko watches the scene unfold, he can’t help but share the same sentiment. 

“WHAT IS GOING ON?”

“Katara, you said you weren’t coming today.”

“I thought I’d come check on Aang to see if he was okay, which he’s  _ clearly  _ not. How long has this been going on?”

“It just started,” Sokka tells her. 

She summons a water whip from her side and aims it straight for General Fong. “Well, it stops right now.” 

But Fong has other ideas, they quickly learn, as Katara suddenly sinks into the ground. 

Zuko runs towards her, as she sinks further down, from her waist to her chest. He grabs hold of one of his blades, not that it will help get her out, but it will ward off any soldiers Fong may send his way. 

Before he can reach her, however, his feet sink into the dirt. His sister used to be able to shoot fire from her feet. He wishes he could do that now. 

“Let her go!” Sokka shouts, pleading for his sister, while Aang warns the general not to continue. 

Zuko’s only buried at his ankles. Katara’s down to her neck. She screams before she’s buried completely. 

Aang enters the Avatar State. Fong wins. 

When it’s all over, Katara is gasping for breath, Aang is furious, Sokka is wielding a club, and Zuko is sure of two things: they’ll be going to Omashu without Fong’s escort and he needs to work on his bending. 

##  Secret Tunnel

“Hey, Zuko, look!” Katara twirls around, showing off her new braid adorned with flowers. “Lily braided my hair.”

He has so many questions. 

_ Why aren’t you and Aang training? Why is Sokka in his underwear? Who’s Lily? What is that awful noise I’m hearing? Who are all these people? How did things change so much while I was looking for food?  _

“Um, that’s nice.” 

Aang jumps up from a nearby rock. “Guys, this is our other friend, Zuko. Zuko, this is the group. They’re nomads. This is Chong, and Lily, and Moku, and I’m sorry I don’t know the rest of your names.” 

The awful noise he keeps hearing - it’s Chong and whatever instrument he has in his hand. 

Sokka clears his throat. “Well, nice meeting you, but now that Zuko’s back, we really need to get going to Omashu. And we’ll stick with the flying.”

“About that,” mentions Zuko, “there’s a whole troop of Fire Nation soldiers camped up the mountain. You can see the flags for miles.”

Sokka facepalms. The nomads smile. He has no idea what he’s walked into.

Sokka sighs. “Secret tunnel it is.”

_ What secret tunnel?  _

##  Trust in Love

The last time he was underground, his mother was smuggling him to the harbor. Somehow, that was less stressful than the situation he's currently in. 

“Sokka, this is just another dead end,” Katara points out, like they can’t _all_ see the wall of dirt in front of them.

“Well, then somebody messed up my map.”

“No one messed up your map! You just don’t know where you’re going!” 

“Hey,” interrupts Chong, “just trust in  _ love _ .” 

Zuko’s eye twitches the way Master Pakku’s used to.

##  Cave-In

“You just  _ had  _ to shoot fire at the wolf-bat,” scolds Katara, waving the torch angrily in his face. 

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted me to practice my firebending.” 

“Well, great job, Zuko! Now we’re trapped.” She wipes sweat from her forehead and sighs. “And it’s only a matter of time before this torch goes out.”

He holds a small flame in the palm of his hand wordlessly.

“Oh, right. You’re a firebender.” 

“We do have our uses,” he says, shrugging. He releases the flame and meets her eyes as they continue walking through the tunnel, separated from the rest of their group. 

She looks frightened. He’s seen her look frightened before, but not like this, not even during the siege, but he supposes battle is a different kind of adrenaline rush than a cave-in. 

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay,” he assures her, even as the air gets thin.

##  Trust in Love Part 2 

She traces her hand over the paintings on the wall, depicting the story of Oma and Shu. Her fingers linger on the painting of the two lovers kissing. She exhales shakily. The torch goes out in her hand. 

“It’s been two hours,” she realizes as Zuko illuminates the cave in the torch’s place. “It’s getting harder to breathe.”

“I know.”

“Trust in love,” she repeats. “The curse says we have to trust in love. And here it says love is brightest in the dark.”

It does say that, right below the painting of the lovers’ kiss.

“So what, you want me to stop firebending? Make it dark?”

“I guess.”

He drops his hand and reaches for Katara, keeping her close in the pitch black. “Now what?”

“I don’t know.” 

In a moment of desperation, exasperated by a lack of oxygen, he clasps her hand in his. He recalls fondly, “My mother used to hold me for hours when I was little. My father had to tell her to put me down.” He knows Katara’s confused, even if he can’t see her. “Trust in love right? Let’s talk about the people we love.”

She squeezes his palm. “My mom used to sing to me. Her name was Kya.”

“My mom's name is Ursa. She used to drag my sister and I to these terrible plays, and she somehow loved them every time.” 

Light breaks through the cave. He can see Katara’s blue eyes twinkling as she smiles. Both look up to a ceiling of glowing crystals, lighting a path. 

“Do you think they lead out?” 

Their hands are still linked. He pulls her to her feet. “Let’s find out.”


	7. Part 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Return to Omashu and The Swamp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The best part of writing this is going back and watching the episodes! Hope you all are staying safe!

##  Outside Omashu

There’s a Fire Nation flag hanging from the walls of Omashu. That doesn’t bode well for them.

“We never talked about what we were going to do with Zuko,” Sokka says.

“What do you mean  _ what we’re going to do with Zuko _ ?” Katara asks.

“He’s wanted by the Fire Nation.”

“So are we,” Aang points out in his defense. 

“We take him with us,” Katara asserts. 

“I don’t think we should go in. What do you think, Zuko? It’s like walking up and asking to get arrested.” 

Aang’s shoulders sag at Sokka’s declaration. “We need to find out what happened to Bumi.”

“Aang,” Katara tells him gently, “we can find you another teacher.” 

“I don’t care about another teacher! I want my friend.” 

Zuko can understand that. He can understand it very well. “Is there another way in?” he asks. 

Aang smiles. 

##  Mai’s Library

He can see the Fire Nation nobles walking in the courtyard. He darts down the steps of the pyramid concealing the four of them and sneaks behind a pillar on the ground level. He can't help himself. There’s something familiar about these people. He’ll be right back. He just wants to investigate a little. He knows he needs to get going. The rest of the group is still out of sight above them.

“Oh, come on, Mai. We’re practically royalty here.”

_ Mai _ .

His sister’s best friend. 

As they come closer, he looks back up for his friends only to see a boulder coming straight at Mai’s family. Aang deflects the boulder just in time. 

“The resistance!” Mai’s father shouts.

It looks like now isn’t the right time to meet back up with the group as Mai starts shooting stilettos at them. He’ll have to hide out in the governor’s house for a little bit as they deal with the issue. As he finds the perfect spot behind a bookshelf in the governor’s library, he hopes it doesn’t take too long. 

##  Mai’s Library Part 2 

He wonders if the group plans on coming for him at all. He’s been stuck in the library for hours, it feels like, staring at the covers of the books around him. A few interest him. One is an atlas, a fancy looking one that he’s sure Sokka will have use for. Another is purely of interest to him. 

_ Mastering the Element of Power _

His uncle always told him fire was the element of power. 

He takes both books from the shelf and decides to find his friends on his own. 

##  An Extra

“Where have you been?” demands Katara.

“Governor’s library. Why does everyone have pentapus marks?”

“It’s how we’re going to get these people out of here.”

“Right,” he says skeptically. 

“It’s gonna work.” 

It does. He can’t believe it. 

It all seems too good to be true until they take a head count and realize they have an extra baby. A  _ Fire Nation  _ baby. 

“This has to be Mai’s brother,” he realizes. 

Katara musses the baby’s hair playfully. “Who’s Mai?” 

“The governor’s daughter.” 

“The girl who threw  _ knives  _ at us? You know her?” 

He shrugs. He doesn’t want to explain it all right now. Katara must understand he doesn’t want to talk because she lets him be and returns her attention to the baby. The baby is a wrench in their plans. He wonders how they’re going to fix it. 

##  The Worst Possible Situation

_ Shit. Shit. Shit. _

When he agrees to attend the hostage negotiation between Mai’s little brother and King Bumi, he isn’t expecting Mai to show up...with Ty Lee and his sister, no less. 

They’re as surprised to see him as he is to see them, but his sister is always quick to recover. 

“So we’re trading a two year old for a king? A powerful, earthbending king? That doesn’t seem very fair. Tell you what. How about King Bumi for the little boy  _ and  _ Prince Zuko?” 

Zuko tries to hide his fear. He knows how important Bumi is to the people outside Omashu, to Aang. 

“No way,” says Katara immediately. “Those aren’t the terms.” 

Azula gestures for the guards to reel Bumi’s chains back. “Very well. We’ll play it your way.” 

Aang runs for Bumi. Katara and Sokka take Mai and Ty Lee. He has Azula. Her flames are _blue_. 

“You still can’t catch up.” 

“I thought you’d be better than this by now,” he returns. 

“Oh, Zuzu. Do you really think you’ll be able to get inside my head? You were never one for mind games.”

“Don’t call me that!” he shouts, circling his arms the way he has seen her do before and channeling his chi to defend himself with rings of fire. It isn't much of a fight. A second later he spies Appa out of the corner of his eye. He runs across the chute, holding his defensive stance, and jumps into Appa’s saddle. 

“Good. Now we just need to find Aang,” Sokka says.

Zuko catches his breath and looks down on Azula, standing on the chute he left her on. She sends him a smile as they fly away. It makes his stomach turn. He knows he’ll be seeing her again very soon. 

##  The Swamp

“Are you worried? About your sister?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll be okay,” Katara assures him. “We’ve put a lot of distance between us and them.”

He looks up from the book he’s been reading diligently. “You don’t know my sister like I do.”

Then he closes the book altogether when Aang starts drifting down, further and further towards the swamp below. 

“Uh, Aang-" Sokka begins, but it’s too late.

The swamp is calling. 

##  A Camp of Vines

The swamp is unsettling, even more unsettling at night. Sokka wants to act like the tough Water Tribe warrior they were both brought up to be, but he still screams the loudest at the shadows in the dark. 

They decide the safest way to sleep is with their backs to each other, all facing different directions like the points of a compass. 

They think it’s the safest, but it does nothing to stop the constricting vines from splitting them up in the middle of the night. 

They’re all screaming then, as they try to break free. 

##  Visions

“Katara! Aang! Sokka!” 

So far he hasn’t found any of his friends. 

“Momo! Appa!”

He’s hungry. He’s isolated. His shoes are wet, and he smells like a swamp. It’s the worst adventure yet, and he’s had quite a few of those since Team Avatar showed up in his life. 

In his boredom, he mimics Katara’s voice to himself. “ _ Come with us, Zuko. You’ll love it. It’s so much fun _ .”

He scoffs, calling for his friends again.

It’s not his friends he finds. 

The figure in front of him is someone he only knows from the history lessons of his royal education. 

It’s Avatar Roku. 

Zuko’s too afraid to move. He blinks to see if the image of the last Avatar’s incarnation will vanish, but it doesn’t. Instead, the Avatar bows to him.

“My son,” he says reverently. “Well done, my son.” 

Zuko blinks again, and the Avatar finally vanishes. Zuko looks around for him again, heart beating in his ears. 

“Katara! Aang! Sokka!” 

##  Visions Part 2

When they all meet up again, he doesn’t tell them about Avatar Roku. Aang speaks about the laughing girl he chased through the swamp. Katara talks about her mother. Even Sokka admits he saw Yue. 

A part of him envies Sokka and Katara. He would have liked to see Yue, and he would have given anything to see his mother, to have her image refreshed in his mind. 

“I saw my uncle,” he reveals. He seems to be the only one in the group to have two separate visions, so he keeps the one of Avatar Roku to himself.

“Again,  _ reasonable _ . You miss your uncle.”

“He was dressed like he was from the Earth Kingdom. Why would I imagine him dressed like that?” 

“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, there’s quite a bit of  _ green _ around here. Maybe you’re just confused,” Sokka says. “There’s an explanation for everything.” 

Katara rolls her eyes. “Why can’t you just admit that there’s something going on here?” 

“Nothing is going on here!” her brother exclaims, hacking at more vines with his machete.

“Sokka, I really don’t think you should be doing that,” Aang cautions. 

“ _Vines, shmines_. What’s the big deal?” 

The big deal turns out to be that the entire swamp is alive, all spanning from the banyan-grove tree Huu leads them to. Zuko hangs onto his visions now that he knows the spirits are at work. He still can’t figure out which one is more bizarre - his uncle in Earth Kingdom clothes or the disgraced Avatar bowing. 

_ Not just bowing _ , his inner voice reminds him.  _ He was bowing to you.  _


	8. Part 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avatar Day and The Blind Bandit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you so much for your kind support of this story! I'm happy to answer any questions without giving too much away (I finally have some solid direction for this story now).

## Boomerang Guy

Zuko has his swords. Katara has her scrolls. Aang has his glider. There’s no time for Sokka’s boomerang.

“Why didn’t you get it two minutes ago?” Katara shouts.

“I didn’t know it was missing two minutes ago.”

“Well, there’s no time now.”

“How come there was time for everyone else’s stuff?”  
“We’ll get you a new boomerang, Sokka,” Aang assures him. 

They flee the Rough Rhinos on Appa, determined to find the closest town. They need cover. 

“My boomerang,” Sokka laments as they fly away. 

Zuko settles into Appa’s saddle, frowning, while also examining his prized swords. He checks to make sure the dagger Yue gave him is still safe in his boot. It is. He would feel awful if one of them was left behind.

He claps a hand on Sokka’s shoulder. “That’s rough, buddy.”

When they land in the town of Chin, a passing merchant refers to Sokka as “ _ponytail_ guy”. The whole issue begins again. 

## Making Bail

The Chin people don’t exactly like Aang. It’s a shock to the young Avatar. It’s a shock to everyone really. Everybody loves Aang. 

Katara rifles through all their things, sighing as she pulls out yet another Water Tribe coin. 

“Uh, Zuko, you wouldn’t happen to have anything stashed away, would you?”

“Just more Water Tribe money.”

“Ugh!” 

“Well, why would I have anything _besides_ Water Tribe money?” he asks. He may be Ozai’s son (which they aren’t telling anyone), but his clothes are blue. Half his hair is tied in a braid, the way many Northern warriors wear it. His money’s from the Water Tribe. 

“Don’t worry, Aang. We’ll build a solid case.”

The town puts Aang in the stocks for the murder of Chin. It’s up to three of them to get him out. They really need to do more research before they wander around the Earth Kingdom.

## Hat Guy

“I am _begging_ you to take that hat off.”

“If I can’t have my boomerang, I get a hat.” 

“Why does it have a monocle?”

“How else would I be able to _see_ , Katara?”

Zuko shakes his head as the two siblings bicker up the path to Avatar Kyoshi’s shrine. They’re supposed to be focusing on proving Aang’s innocence.

The leader of the island seems to be as irritated with their conversation as he is. “Please, when you go into Kyoshi’s shrine, don’t touch anything.” 

“No problem,” Sokka says. “Hey, um, is Suki around, by chance?”

Zuko pulls Katara aside, whispering, “Who’s Suki?” 

Katara whispers back, “Sokka had a _lady friend_ before Yue. He’s a bit of a player.”

“Tsk. Tsk.”

Katara shoves him. He can’t tell if it’s playful or not. “You have no room to talk. Master Pakku says you’re a player too.” 

“He said what?” Zuko splutters. 

“You heard me.”

She laughs at him as they follow Oyaji into Kyoshi’s shrine. He hardens his facial expression, thinking about Pakku, regretting his choice not to leave a note at the very least. He also wants to know why Pakku would be going around, telling Katara he’s a player.

“Look at the size of these boots,” Katara notices. 

“Avatar Kyoshi had the largest feet of any Avatar,” Oyaji informs them. 

The three of them glance at each other conspiratorially. This may be an important piece of evidence. 

## Avatars of the Past

Kyoshi takes over Aang’s body. There’s no other way to describe the scene in front of him. She stands before the whole town and confesses to killing Chin the Conqueror before she returns to her place in the Spirit World and leaves Aang behind to face judgment. 

As the whole town grapples with the turn of events, as Katara tends to Aang, Zuko wonders about the other Avatars. Does Aang have a special link to all of them? Is there a way to ask Avatar Roku about his vision in the swamp?

## Boomerang Guy Part 2

“So the boomerang’s back?” Aang asks.

“More importantly, the hat’s gone?” wonders Katara hopefully. 

“I think the most important thing here is knowing that the history we pass on isn’t always right,” Zuko says. Three pairs of eyes turn back to him. It’s a relief that one of these eyes is no longer covered by a monocle. 

“What do you mean?”

Zuko thinks about everything they told him when he was growing up in the palace. “If you knew the things they teach Fire Nation kids…”

“What do they teach you?”

“Things to justify everything. By the time you grow up, you think you’re on the right side of the war. I’m lucky in a way. I got to see the world differently when I went to the North Pole. The town of Chin did the same thing. They erased the conqueror’s history to justify their hatred for the Avatar.” 

“How can you convince a whole nation that it’s okay to invade everyone and kill anyone who’s not okay with it?” Katara demands of him, and he wishes he had a simple answer. 

A few answers come to mind. Misinformation. Indoctrination. _Fear_. Fear goes a long way. His friends have never been called to answer before the Fire Lord. They’ve never felt the heat of his screen of fire. They don’t know what it is to fear. 

Katara drops the question when he doesn’t settle on an answer. 

Sokka takes an experimental throw of his reacquired boomerang. It comes back. “Every time,” he whispers. 

## Sidelines of the Earth Rumble 

Zuko distributes the snacks and drinks while Aang watches the scene attentively. Katara turns to Aang skeptically.

“Do you really think you’re going to find an earthbending teacher here? These guys don’t exactly seem cut out for the job.”

“Are you kidding?” interjects Sokka as the Boulder pummels another opponent. “Aang, you’ve gotta ask The Boulder.” 

“I don’t know about that.”

“Come on! Zuko, back me up here.” 

“Zuko’s mature enough to look past big muscles and doting fans,” Katara says. 

Zuko smiles proudly, and tosses another fried biscuit in his mouth. Already, Gaoling is so much better than Chin. At least they take Water Tribe money here.

Sokka rolls his eyes just as Xin Fu announces the next match: The Boulder vs. Fire Nation Man.

The whole crowd boos the second they see red, including Sokka, loudly. Zuko glares at him. “I’m not booing _you_. You don’t count. GO BACK TO THE FIRE NATION! Again, not directed at you.” 

The Boulder wins every match, some of them in a matter of seconds. It begins to bore everyone except Sokka… until the Blind Bandit enters the ring.

“She can’t really be blind, right?” asks Katara. 

Aang sits on the other side of her, stunned. “I think she is.”

“Did you hear Xin Fu?” Zuko says. “She’s the undefeated champion.” 

“I think she is...going down!”

She wins. The Blind Bandit wins. And Aang’s determined for her to be his earthbending teacher. Now they just need to find her. 

## Sidelines of the Bei Fong Table

Toph Bei Fong looks much different from the Blind Bandit, though her milky-green eyes are the same. 

Her father’s hosting the four of them for a last-minute dinner: the Avatar, Katara, Sokka, and…

“Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

“The Northern Water Tribe,” Toph’s mother marvels. “Are you a waterbender too, Pakku?”

“No, my lady, though I am a master of weapons.” 

Katara hides a smile behind her hand. They’re seated beside each other at dinner. “Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe?”

“What was I supposed to say?” he asks. Everywhere they go, it’s a different cover story, depending on the situation. Some don’t bat an eye at him or his name. Some can’t stop staring at him suspiciously. 

“We’re going to have to get you some Earth Kingdom clothes. We can’t keep pretending you’re from the Water Tribes.”

“You’re not cutting my hair,” he tells her. 

Her eyes linger on his hair thoughtfully. “Okay, but let me style it like other Earth Kingdom men.”

“You’re not touching my hair.”

“Please?”

“I’ll think about it.” 

Privately, he thinks it’s a little late to be worrying about disguises. Azula already knows who the fourth member of the group is. The Wanted posters will be up in a matter of time. It's all the more reason for Aang to find an earthbending teacher...if he could just stop pissing this one off. 

## A Less Obvious Stowaway

“I know you’re lying,” he begins, confronting the newest member of their group. 

“That’s kind of _my_ thing. I doubt you can sense fluctuations in heartbeats.”

“No, I can’t, but I can recognize people like me. I’m a stowaway too. I ran away from home, but I was honest with the group about it.”

“Where’s home for you, _Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe_? I knew you were lying as soon as you said it.”

Zuko frowns. “Home is the Northern Water Tribe,” he says, “and it’s the Fire Nation.” 

“What?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I don’t care that much.”

“You should. It could impact your decision to join us. I’m the Fire Lord’s son.”

“No, you’re not.” 

“Yes, I am. You can tell I’m not lying.” 

“ _You’re_ the missing Fire Prince?” 

“Yep, and my crazy sister’s on our tail. Don’t you see how nice it is to be honest with the people you’re traveling with?”

The young earthbender sighs. “I don’t want them to send me back.” 

“I understand. I hid under blankets in Appa’s saddle until they couldn’t take me back...well until they found me.”

She laughs. “You snuck on board? And they just kept you?” 

“I had Katara’s help. She’s kind of a force to be reckoned with.” 

“Well, can I have your help on this one? There are some earthbending moves headed your way if I can’t.” 

Zuko inhales sharply. “Just don’t get me killed, Lady Bei Fong.” 

“Right back at you, Northern Prince of Fire.”

“Don’t call me that.”


	9. Part 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Songs from Zuko Alone (not really since Zuko isn't alone), The Chase, and Bitter Work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So do you remember way back when I said this was going to be a lighthearted story? Well it's going to eventually take an angsty turn with a happy ending. There will be a lot of lightheartedness before I unleash the angst, I promise. Thanks as always for reading!

##  Shopping Trip

“You know you didn’t have to go shopping with me. I can dress myself,” he calls to Katara outside the dressing room. 

“Eh, Aang’s with Toph, and I’ve had enough of Sokka. Does it fit?” 

He takes a look at the light green tunic in the courtesy mirror. It sits nicely enough on his shoulders, and it’s long enough for the yellow sash to tie properly at his waist. 

“Yeah.”

“Let me see.”

He opens the door of the dressing room, where she’s standing outside, holding a formal dress in emerald green. 

She looks over him approvingly. “It looks good. You look  _ Earth Kingdom _ . I won’t even have to do anything to your hair.” 

He exhales a breath of relief. “Good.” He glances at her hands. “Nice dress.” 

“Oh, I was just looking.”

“You should try it on.” 

She looks at it again and then shakes her head. “No, it’s not practical. Even if I needed Earth Kingdom clothes, this is too dressy. And it’s expensive.”

“And I can tell you want it.”

Her mouth forms a sad smile. “I  _ do _ ,” she admits. 

“Go try it on. If it fits, get it.” 

“What, and explain to Sokka why we don’t have money for food?” 

“I’ll buy it.” 

“Zuko, you don’t have to do that.” 

“I know. You don’t have to do a lot of things you do for us. Just try it on.” 

“Okay,” she acquiesces, shuffling into the dressing room he just vacated. 

He whistles softly while he waits, perusing some of the belts and shoes in the shop. He peers up when he hears the dressing room door open. 

Katara twirls in the dress. She hides half her face behind a pink fan to complete the look. “Well, it fits,” she says, breaking the small silence they fall into. 

She folds the fan, revealing her whole face now, not just her bright blue eyes. “That settles it then. We’ll get both outfits.”

Those blue eyes twinkle mischievously. “We won’t tell Sokka about mine.”

“Agreed.” 

##  The Posters

He finds them nailed to a stake in a town they’re passing through. 

“Guys, we need to go.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” asks Sokka. He grimaces when he notices what Zuko’s pointing to. “Oh yeah, that’s a problem.”

At the top, there’s a Wanted poster for Aang. Zuko has one just below. 

Though these are alarming, it’s the third poster Zuko’s drawn to. It looks like it’s been up longer than the other two. The characters are faded, but the picture remains visible. His uncle’s golden eyes stare clearly at him. 

Zuko rips the posters down before they leave. He burns his first, and then Aang’s, as soon as they’re safely back on Appa, but he keeps the one of his uncle. He tucks it away with the rest of his things, once again left with more questions than answers.

##  Spring is for Sparring

Appa’s shedding, now that the spring months are bringing in some warmer weather. Katara isn’t a fan of walking around covered in sky bison fur, so naturally, Zuko makes a point to throw tufts of fur at her whenever she walks by. 

“Ugh, you’re such a-a-a…”

He grins, arming himself with more fur. “A what?” 

“A boy!” she shouts. “I’m just so glad we finally have another girl in the group. I’m sick of you guys.” 

He throws more fur at her, and her eyes narrow. She opens her waterskin.

“Oh, now you’ve done it,” Sokka says from the point on the ground he’s making a snow angel in Appa’s fur. 

She draws her water to a whip at her chest. An idea occurs to him. The group’s completely alone. It’s just them and the forest. There’s no harm in bending just a little. He takes a deep breath and kicks a small fire arc directly to the whip, evaporating the water. 

“Looks like we’re gonna get that spar now,” he says as she quickly gathers the vapor into several ice discs and aims them for his head. 

“Oh, you’re on.” 

He’s been reading some more of the book he found in Mai’s library. There’s a technique he wants to try. He steadies the left side of his body and brings his right arm back behind him. When he propels it forward, the flame follows like a pendulum, with enough force in the fire’s landing to throw Katara out of her stance. 

“I definitely felt that one,” Toph comments, almost like she’s impressed. 

“Um, guys, I don’t know if we should be fighting each other,” says Aang. Now that Katara’s seen the new form he’s figured out, she brings out the ice daggers. One grazes his tunic, leaving a tear. 

“I just got this!” he shouts. 

“I guess we’ll have to go shopping again.” 

He lunges towards her. She freezes his feet to the ground. He melts the ice and lunges again, close enough to kick her feet out from under her. They both fall to the ground, smiling. 

She turns her head towards his. “What was that move you did? The swinging fire thing?” 

“It’s something I read about.” He stands himself up and holds a hand out for her. 

“Your bending’s getting better.” 

“I’m finally practicing. By the way, I won that round.” 

“You did not!”

“I knocked you down.”

“You knocked yourself down too. It was a draw,” she insists. 

“Yeah, okay.”

“It was!” 

“I said okay.” 

He starts laughing at the annoyed expression on her face. It’s too easy to rile her up. 

##  Katara and Toph

Something else Katara isn’t a fan of is Toph’s work ethic. She grumbles about the earthbender, seated serenely beneath an earth tent of her own creation, while the four of them unpack Appa’s saddle and make camp. 

“She’s just sitting there. Look, Zuko. She’s chewing on straw.” 

Zuko unravels one of their sleeping bags. “The audacity.” 

“I’m just saying that if she wants to be part of the group, she has to help. We help each other here.” 

“Do you want me to talk to her?” Zuko offers. 

“No, it’s okay.”

“It’s upsetting you.” 

“I think she’ll catch on eventually. She’s still getting used to it.” 

Katara starts on dinner, casting glances every so often at Toph. He sighs. He offered to talk to her. She refused. That’s all he can do now.

##  Katara and Toph Part 2

“Hey, Toph, maybe you could help a little since this is the second time we’ve had to make camp today,” Katara suggests, somewhat gently, but the rest of her usual pleasantness with others has been temporarily ceded to exhaustion. 

“Oh no,” whispers Zuko. 

“Are you kidding? We haven’t had any good entertainment in weeks,” says Sokka.

“I helped. I did my stuff. Hence the earth tent.”

“I see the earth tent. It’s just that we have  _ actual _ tents-“

“That I’m not going to sleep in.”

“Well that logic didn’t stop you from eating the dinner you didn’t help cook!”

“Listen up, Sugar Queen-“

“ _ Sugar Queen _ ?”

“Um, shouldn’t we intervene before they say something they regret?” 

“I think it’s a little late for that one, Aang.” 

Sokka shushes them. “Hey, I can’t hear whatever insult Toph just said to Katara.” 

##  Katara and Toph Part 3

When his sister shows up with Mai and Ty Lee _again_ , they flee again. 

“I think we should face them,” Toph says. 

“No,” he replies brusquely. 

“Come on. They’re outnumbered.” 

Azula used to make her serving girls play target practice when she was only eight years old. It doesn’t matter if she’s outnumbered. “No.”

“What’s the matter?” Toph taunts. “Scared of your own sister?”

“Toph, drop it,” scolds Katara.

“Oh, great! Sugar Queen's gonna tell me what to do again!”

Thankfully, Katara doesn’t reply, but Zuko can tell she’s seething. When they land again, hopeful that Azula’s lost their trail, Sokka forgoes unpacking and instead lays on the first soft patch of dirt he can find. 

“No camp tonight. Too tired.”

“It’s okay, Sokka. Toph wasn’t going to help anyways.” 

“ _ No _ ,” whines Sokka.. 

Zuko would laugh if he wasn’t so exhausted. “What’s wrong, Sokka? I thought we hadn’t had any good entertainment in weeks.” he taunts. 

“Zuko, maybe we should talk to Toph and Katara,” Aang suggests. “You know, make them make up.”

Meanwhile, Katara’s pounding her fists against the earth wall Toph just slammed in her face. Zuko knows there’s no resolving their issues tonight. 

##  In the Light of Day

Toph kicks her feet every once in a while as she walks. “You don’t have to follow me.”

“You can’t just wander the forest by yourself.” 

“You should’ve stayed with your girlfriend.” 

“Katara’s not my girlfriend.” 

“Sorry. Still getting used to the dynamic since apparently I ‘throw everything off’.”

Zuko sighs. “Katara didn’t mean that.” 

“Yes, she did.”

“You’re still getting to know everyone. Something to know about Katara is she’s-”

“Annoying?”

He rolls his eyes. “I was going to say motherly.” 

Toph scoffs. “I’m still gonna say annoying.” 

“Look, everything she does is because she cares, even if she tries to shove it down your throat. She’s a passionate person.” 

“And I’m supposed to just let her take care of me if I don’t want her to?”

“No, but you don’t have to isolate yourself. You don’t have to act like you’re not part of the group. You’re a major part. Aang needs you.” 

She seems to think over his words, which he’s grateful for. Yue once told him he isn’t the best at giving advice. 

“So what are the others up to?”

“Laying a trap for Azula.” 

She smiles. “Want to go help them?” 

Yes. He wants that very much. 

##  You’ll Never Catch Up

Azula can bend lightning now apparently. She does it effortlessly too. It’s how she escapes. Fighting solely against the five of them, she still escapes. Even when they were children, she danced circles around him, impressing anyone who looked her way.

“You’ll never catch up,” she told him when they were little. She was a prodigy. All of his training could never compete with her raw ability. 

Now she can bend lightning. 

It’s mentioned in his firebending book, briefly in the final chapter. Only the greatest firebenders can generate lightning, it says. He tries it. He reads the passage over and over and then hides out on a cliff’s edge while Aang starts his first day of earthbending. 

He recites the knowledge from his book. “To achieve the cold-blooded fire, one must have peace of mind.” He takes a deep breath. “Okay, peace of mind.”

He tries the form. It doesn’t work. The fire blows up in his face again and again. 

He can see his sister’s golden eyes gleaming. 

_ You’ll never catch up _ .

##  The Goings of Children

“Ugh, finally. Where have you been?”

“Practicing my firebending, why?” he says to Toph.

“Your girlfriend interfered with my teaching today.”

“Not my girlfriend. Don’t know how many times I have to tell you. And I’m not the mediator between you two. You’re going to have to learn to coexist.” 

“Oh, we had a perfectly good understanding until this morning... when she took my student. She’s coddling him right now.”

“I don’t have time for this, Toph. I’m trying to bend lightning over here.” 

“Bend lightning? Are you crazy? Just wait until I tell your favorite coddler about this! The fallout’s going to be _too_ good.”

Zuko groans. “Don’t tell Katara.” 

“I think I need to. She’ll be distracted enough to give me my pupil back. Let’s go find her. Oh, Katara!”

This is why he doesn’t have peace of mind, these absolute children. He’s sure of it. If Master Pakku were here, he would have lost both eyes from excessive twitching. _If Master Pakku were here..._

“Hey, Toph! I think Aang’s just about ready to try earthbending again,” Katara says when the two of them approach the pool of water. 

“I’m so glad you think so,” Toph says. “As long as we’re on the subject of new bending techniques, did you know Zuko’s trying his hand at lightning?”

“What?” she shouts, dropping the wave she and Aang are volleying. 

“I told you not to tell her.” 

“And I told you the fallout was too good to pass up,” Toph returns. “So I’ll just take my pupil back now, and you can yell at Zuko. Come on, Twinkletoes.” 

To his dismay, Aang shuffles out of the pool and follows his earthbending teacher, leaving Katara glaring at him. Before she can unleash a lecture, he makes a point to look around, away from her and her white wrappings and asks, “Where’s Sokka? It’s almost dark, and he’s not back yet.” 

Now she can worry about something else. 


	10. Part 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Songs from The Library and The Desert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I finished my rough outline, and we're looking at about 26 chapters as of right now. Though I absolutely love Professor Zei in the show, I felt like including him in this chapter would clutter things a little since there are already five members of the group. Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think

##  The Not-So-Misty Palm Springs Oasis

When they land in the desert, there are sandbenders waiting outside the bar. Their eyes linger on their weapons, on Appa, on the members of the group, on Katara. The others filter nervously into the bar. Zuko stares back. 

One of them spits in his face. His arm twitches, eager to reach for the swords at his back. 

Katara tugs on his wrist and pulls him inside. 

The sandbender smirks. 

“Don’t start any fights,” Katara chastises. 

“He started it.”

“Forget about them. Buy me a drink.”

“Use your own money.”

“Come on. I bought you mangoes in the last town.”

“Only because they were two for the price of one, and you wanted one.”

But he digs into his pocket and finds enough change to buy her a mango smoothie. The others want water. 

##  The Legend

“I thought you got this atlas from the governor’s house,” Sokka says indignantly now that they know the information in it’s outdated. 

“I did.”

“Faulty information, no schematics of the Fire Nation, no palace blueprints, nothing!”

“Do you really think my father would make it that easy?” 

The whole group bristles at the reminder of Zuko’s ancestry. For some reason, they don’t take issue with accepting Azula as his sister, but they don’t like to remember he’s Ozai’s only son. 

_He_ doesn’t like to remember either.

“We need accurate maps of the Fire Nation,” Sokka reiterates. “And of everything apparently,” he adds, gesturing to the arid land around them that was once the luxurious oasis they had planned to relax in. 

“And who would have those? Zuko’s right, there’s a reason the Fire Nation’s never been invaded.”

Sokka flips through the pages of the atlas, seemingly looking for something specific. “Okay, I have an idea. It’s kind of a long shot.”

Zuko isn’t one for long shots. 

“There’s a legend of a library out in the Si Wong desert. The atlas has a whole page dedicated to it.”

“A legend?” repeats Katara. “That’s what you want to get lost in the middle of the desert for?”

Her sibling crosses his arms. “Look, I know you love water. We’ll be out of the desert in no time.”

“You don’t even know if it’s real. You’re the one always getting mad about wasting time.”

“It’s real,” Zuko says. 

“What? How do you know that?”

“There are a few things Fire Nation princes learn that others don’t.”

Katara glares at him when he doesn’t elaborate. 

##  Into the Library

“I can stay out here with you,” he offers to Toph when they finally find the library after hours of searching. 

“I’ll be okay,” she says. “I have Appa. Isn’t that right, buddy?”

The beast growls affirmatively. “Well, is there something you want me to pick up for you? I could read it out loud while we fly.”

“Just go, Princey, before I think you’re afraid of the creepy underground library.” 

He rolls his eyes, not that she can see. He plucks the dagger from his boot and presses it into her hand. “Just in case.”

She runs her thumb lightly over the blade. “Fancy.”

“Be careful with that. It’s a gift from the Princess of the Northern Water Tribe.”

Toph smirks. “Oh, does Katara have some competition?” 

That comment makes it easier for Zuko to leave her alone in the sand. He follows the others through the window that the fox spirit entered and awaits Wan Shi Tong’s judgment. 

The great knowledge spirit stares him down. “To prove your worth as scholars, you have to contribute some worthwhile knowledge.”

The only thing worth sacrificing is his book on firebending, and he doesn't want to part with that. But it looks like it's his only option. He offers the book. "Please accept this manual of firebending."

The owl stares at him. "Firebending? Why? Are _you_ a firebender? Like the one who came into my library, looking to destroy his enemy?"

"No."

"Then why do you have this?"

He recycles Sokka's answer. "Knowledge for knowledge's sake."

He's thankfully allowed entry into the library. The first thing he want to find is another firebending manual. 

##  Monsters Come in Many Forms

“Whatcha looking at?”

Katara’s question startles him. He reflexively slams his book shut. “Oh, just a biography on Avatar Roku.”

“Avatar Roku?”

“Yeah, just curious.” 

“Anything interesting?”

“Yeah, actually. Did you know there used to be dragons all over the Fire Nation? Avatar Roku had his own.” He shows her the illustration. Then he flips to another page, to another illustration. It’s a depiction of Avatar Roku standing beside Fire Lord Sozin on his coronation day. 

Katara’s reading over his shoulder. “Sozin as in Sozin’s comet?”

“Yeah,” he replies uneasily. 

“He’s the one who wiped out all the airbenders?”

“Uh-huh.”

They look at the picture again. “Monsters really do look like normal men,” she muses, searching for another book. He wonders what other monsters she’s encountered.

As Zuko turns towards the end of the book, noting that Avatar Roku’s home was destroyed in a volcanic eruption, and his family thereafter moved to Hira’a, Sokka shouts for them to find the Fire Nation section of the library. He’s clutching some scroll, going on about the darkest day in Fire Nation history. 

The four of them race down the hall, only to remember that the Fire Nation is always one step ahead. The entire section is destroyed. He wonders if the knowledge was destroyed little by little, or all at once, and by who's decree. 

Wan Shi Tong wants no part in mortals’ wars, but his fox spirits do. 

The foxes lead them to a planetarium, where Sokka inputs the date from his stray scroll. 

“Great, you broke it,” says Aang.

“I didn’t break it. The sun is behind the moon.”

“It’s a solar eclipse,” Zuko realizes. “It’s literally the darkest day in Fire Nation history.”

“It does look pretty dark.”

“It’s not just about darkness. Firebenders draw power from the sun. During an eclipse…”

“Have you ever been in one?” Sokka wonders.

“No, but I wouldn’t be surprised if firebenders lose their bending.”

“Like what happened to me when Zhao took the moon spirit,” adds Katara.

“Exactly.”

It’s the information they’ve been looking for, something to tip the scales just a bit, but Wan Shi Tong overhears. And he doesn’t want anyone with that knowledge to leave the library.

##  Nothing But Desert

Zuko falls to the ground with Katara as the library crashes beneath the sand. He tries to shoulder as much of the fall as possible. When the chaos ends, he looks to his left and sees that Aang and Sokka made it after all. They stayed back to find the next eclipse, insisting Zuko and Katara take Momo and run for their lives. 

“We got it!” Sokka exclaims, embracing his sister. “Fire Lord Ozai, you’re going down!”

“Where’s Appa?” Aang asks. 

Zuko looks around and takes a quick head count. Toph, Momo, Katara, Sokka, Aang...no Appa. Toph has tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry. The library was sinking, and you guys were still inside. I couldn’t-”

“Yes, you could have!”

“Hey, it's not her fault,” Zuko says to Aang.

Gently, Katara reminds him, “Aang, Toph saved our lives.” 

“I’m going.”

“Going,” scoffs Zuko. “Where are you going? There’s nothing but desert.”

“I’m going to find Appa,” the boy insists, expanding his glider for take-off before the rest can say a word about it. 

Katara looks like she’s been slapped. She looks back at him desperately, as if he can do anything to call the Avatar back. Instead, he takes Toph’s hand and leads her forward. Katara and Sokka follow. They need to get out of the desert. 

##  Beneath the Moon

While Sokka and Toph sleep, Zuko finds Katara sitting in the sand. Momo’s curled around her shoulders, offering her some warmth in the cool night. She looks over her shoulder when he walks towards her. What worries him is that she doesn’t smile. 

“Aang never came back,” she whispers. 

“I noticed.” 

“We need to get out of here. We don’t have any maps out. I can’t find any of these constellations.” She looks down at the star chart again and sighs. “We need water.” 

She’s almost out. They only have a couple rations left. Then it’s only a matter of time before the hallucinations kick in.

“We need to travel at night when it’s cool. That way we conserve our energy during the hottest parts of the day,” he suggests. 

She pouts thoughtfully. “That’s a good idea.”

He shrugs. “I have one of those every now and then.” 

She swats at him. “No need to be smart. I get enough of that from Sokka.” 

“Come on. I’m a little more tolerable than Sokka.”

“You are,” she admits.

The two of them fall into a comfortable silence as they stare up at the moon. “You should get some sleep,” he tells her after a moment’s reprieve. “We’ll start moving soon.”

“I want to be awake in case Aang comes back.” 

“I’ll wake you up if he does,” he offers. 

“I couldn’t if I tried. I’m too worried.” 

“Katara,” he says, staring into the blue of her eyes instead of the white streams of moonlight, “sometimes the best thing you can do for the people you love is take care of yourself.” Then he looks right back at the moon, right back at Yue. 

“You think so?” 

He nods. “Yue sacrificed herself for her tribe. My mother sacrificed her freedom for me. Maybe even her life, I don’t really know. I can’t let those sacrifices mean nothing. I can’t let myself waste away, no matter how much I may want to. You have to take care of yourself if you want to be there for Aang. You can’t be out looking for Appa if you’re too tired to stand.”

“I guess you’re right. Come on, Momo, let’s get some sleep. I don’t know _how_ the others are sleeping. It’s so cold.” 

“I don’t have that problem. Firebender.” 

“Yeah, stop rubbing it in,” she says, cuddling the lemur. “All of our blankets were on Appa.” 

“I know.” 

“The dress you bought me too. I’m sorry, Zuko. Even if we get Appa back, I’m sure all our stuff is gone.” 

He can see her eyelids fluttering. “It’s okay,” he says. “I’ll buy you another one.” 

“You don’t have enough money.” 

“You don’t know that. Master Pakku comes from a very noble line.” 

“Oh, yeah?” she says sleepily. 

“Yes. Now stop talking and go to sleep.” 

“Goodnight, Zuko.” 

“Goodnight.” 

Aang returns just before Yue’s moonlight disappears from the sky. He wakes Katara as promised. 

##  Cactus Juice

While he holds Toph’s hand, Katara holds Sokka’s...because Sokka’s drunk on cactus juice. Aang follows solemnly behind them, ignoring Katara’s attempts to cheer him up.

“Hey, guys, look!” drawls Sokka, pointing up the sky with his free hand. “It’s Appa.”

“Appa!” Aang shouts, the happiest he’s been since the library fell beneath the sand. But then they all look up and realize it is another one of Sokka’s hallucinations. Above them, there is nothing in the sky but a single cloud.

“Wait, Aang, can you fly up there and bend the water from the cloud into my pouch?” 

Aang snatches the pouch from her, crestfallen. “Sure.” 

When he returns, he practically throws it at Katara, the only person who’s gone out of her way to be nice to him. “Oh, there’s hardly anything in here.” 

“I’m sorry, okay! I bended everything that was there! What’s anybody else doing, huh? What are you doing?” the Avatar shouts. 

Zuko drops Toph’s hand. “Stop yelling at her! She’s the one trying harder than anyone to get us all out of here.” 

“What’s the point? We all know we can’t survive without Appa!”

Sokka begins singing the Secret Tunnel song the nomads sang at the tomb of Oma and Shu, to the annoyance of everyone.

“And there’s no way we’ll ever see Appa again if we die out here. Now move!” 

He takes Toph’s hand again and continues walking. “I’m so  _ sick _ of not being able to see where I’m going,” she laments as her foot kicks into an object sticking out from the sand. “And what kind of idiot buries a boat in the sand?”

“This is an  _ ocean _ ?” asks Sokka as he begins propelling his arms as if he were swimming. 

“Okay, no cactus juice for you ever again,” says his sister as they investigate the abandoned ship of the sandbenders. 

##  Warm

Toph’s never experienced Aang in the Avatar State before. By their last day in the desert, Sokka’s hallucinations have worn off. He’s able to shield Toph from the elements. Zuko’s shouting for Katara to take his hand, but she keeps reaching for Aang, hoping to calm him from the Avatar State. 

“Katara, come on. We have to run!” There’s sand blowing in his eyes, whipping the ends of his hair. The wrong kind of windstorm can very easily bury them all. 

He holds her hand, grounding her, as she reaches one more time for Aang. This time she latches onto his forearm and pulls him to the ground. Zuko watches as she calms him from his rage. 

The sandbenders are long gone from Aang’s path now, with no other explanation aside from selling Appa to merchants on the way to Ba Sing Se. Zuko isn’t sure if Aang will even let the sandbenders escort them out of the desert, all things considered.

The whirlwind ends as Aang’s tattoos stop glowing. Katara pats his back in a way that reminds Zuko of the way his mother used to pat his back as he went to sleep. Then the boy cries into Katara’s shoulder. She helps him up, over to the sandbending ship they’ll use to follow the sandbenders. The events of the day exhaust Aang enough to get some sleep when they finally make it out of the desert. They find a river nearby where they drink heartily and make camp for the night. Aang sleeps clutching his bison whistle. 

“I’ve never seen him so angry,” Katara says. “I hope this doesn’t change him.” 

“He’s had Appa with him longer than any of us,” he reminds her. Besides, no one stays the same forever.

She leans her head against his shoulder, surprising him, but she does it like it’s the most natural thing in the world. “You’re warm,” she hums against his neck. 

“Firebender.” 

“Good. I’m freezing.” 

“We need to figure out how we’re going to get to Ba Sing Se.” 

“In the morning,” she says.

He wraps an arm around her shoulders. "Okay. In the morning." 


	11. Part 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Songs from The Serpent's Pass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much fun as I have writing these chapters, when the group gets to Ba Sing Se, there will be a lot more fun because that's when a lot more canon deviation begins. Thanks as always for your support! I love reading your responses!

##  A Strong Motivation 

Thunder claps above him. Rain gathers below. And not a single lightning strike comes near him during the storm. 

“Zuko, what are you doing?”

She doesn’t like it when he tries his hand at lightning. She’s made that  _ perfectly  _ clear. 

“What does it look like I’m doing, Katara?” He takes a deep breath and channels the peace his long-lost book taught him. 

“Why do you want to bend lightning so bad, huh?” She yells over the thunder. 

“Azula can bend lightning,” he reminds her. 

“Is that your only motivation, to be better than Azula?” 

He doesn’t answer. Instead, he focuses on his stance and hopes his pestering friend will leave him alone. He already knows it’s no use. This is the girl that convinced  _ Master Pakku  _ to train her. 

“That can’t be what drives you.”

“It’s a strong motivation,” he remarks.

“Find a stronger one,” she says before turning away from him. She leaves him alone after all, but not before making her point. 

##  Lee

The closer they get to Ba Sing Se, the more he realizes he’ll have to settle on a permanent cover story. He doubts any firebenders will be welcome there, especially not the missing Fire Prince. 

“Hey, Zuko, look what Toph showed me!” Aang shouts, and Zuko’s head whips around to see if anyone’s nearby. No one is...this time. 

“You guys need to start calling me Lee,” he grumbles exasperatedly.

“Lee? What happened to Pakku?”

“I can’t pass for someone from the Water Tribes. It’s too much of a stretch. Just call me Lee from now on.”

“Did you just come up with that?”

“Yes.”

Aang chuckles. “Okay.  _ Lee _ , look what Toph showed me.”

The boy covers him in dust. Lots and lots of dust. Well, at least he called him Lee. 

##  He Gets It From You

It’s good that the group starts to use his alias, especially when they’re joined by three other refugees on the way to Ba Sing Se. 

Originally, Sokka wanted them to take the Serpent’s Pass as the quickest way to their destination, but from the horrific looks on these new faces at the mere suggestion, they realize the ferry ride across Full Moon Bay  _ might  _ be the better option.

“Wait. How are we gonna get tickets? None of us have passports.”

Toph waves him off. “Speak for yourself.”

“ _ You  _ have a passport?”

“Of course I do. And it’s a good one. I’m kind of a big deal around here.” 

_ That’s right.  _ _She’s nobility_. It’s so easy to forget that sometimes. 

Thanks to her and her Bei Fong seal, five shiny tickets pass between them, guaranteeing safe passage to Ba Sing Se. 

Katara admires her ticket. This is the first thing to go smoothly for them since Appa was stolen. “Hope you don’t get seasick,” she says. 

Before he can respond, the three refugees, Than, Ying, and Cela, shout for Aang’s attention.

“Avatar Aang, you have to help us! Someone took all of our belongings; our passports, our tickets, everything’s gone!”

Katara’s face falls. He knows she feels the same pity he does. Ying will give birth very soon, and it’s her hope to have the baby in Ba Sing Se. Aang tries to negotiate with the woman at the ticket counter, but Zuko already knows it’s a lost cause.

Zuko whispers to Katara, “Be prepared to give up your ticket. Aang’s going to take them through the Serpent’s Pass if this lady doesn’t issue them new tickets.”

“You don’t know it’ll come to that.”

“He’s going to do anything to help them,” Zuko explains. “He gets it from you... _ Mom _ .”

She smacks his arm. “Hey, I get enough of the mom jokes from Toph. Besides, you’re the one who’s all about honor. If he gets it from anyone, it’s _you_.”

Their little private rift ends when Aang announces that he’s going to take them through the Serpent’s Pass. “You guys still have tickets. You can take the ferry.”

Katara shakes her head. “No way we’re leaving you.”

Aang’s been in a hard mood lately, considering the circumstances, but his face softens in the midst of Katara’s compassion. One by one, the members of the group drop their tickets to the ground.

“Thank you all,” Ying says tearfully, rubbing circles on her swollen belly.

As they all file out of the hidden harbor, Sokka smiles. “Hey, guys! Suki’s coming too!” 

##  Suki

Suki is a nice girl. Zuko (well, she’s introduced to him as Lee) takes to the Kyoshi warrior immediately. The only problem, he quickly realizes, is  _ Sokka _ .

“Suki, watch out for that cliff!”

“Suki, you need to be more careful!” 

“Suki, PLEASE don't make your bed there. That ledge could give at any minute!"

All the way through the pass, Sokka coddles Suki, to the annoyance of everyone else.

“If he says Suki one more time, I’m throwing him off the mountain,” Toph grumbles. 

He smirks. “Back home, the warriors would make a game of it. When someone does something annoying all the time, you take a drink of spirit wine every time it happens, and see if you can stand by the end of the night.”

Toph smiles at the suggestion. “I can’t imagine you that relaxed.”

He shrugs, not that she can see. “I had my moments...before the siege.” 

He says nothing more after that, instead dwelling on how the siege had changed his life. It had woken him up in a way, and shown him that even in the North he was not untouchable. Still, he misses his room. He misses the warrior training. He misses the festivals. He misses Pakku. He misses Yue. 

And he knows Sokka misses Yue too, which helps him understand the overbearing behavior towards Suki a little more. 

##  The Serpent’s Pass

How did they almost make it all the way through the path without seeing this monster? It’s the largest animal he’s ever seen before, and it has no care for what it destroys. As Katara freezes footfalls for him from the water, he navigates them and shoots flames at the animal...without thinking. Aang glides above them, while Katara anticipates Zuko’s next steps, sending waves of ice towards him for a better angle, refreezing the water any time the serpent breaks his path.

He only looks back once, when Toph shouts for help. She can’t swim, and she can’t see, and she’s trapped in the water with a sea serpent. He exhales a breath of relief when Suki dives after her. 

The fire does more to scare the monster than Aang’s blasts of air, and the serpent begins to surface less frequently. It gives the group enough time to make it across the remainder of the path. 

The nine of them reconvene together, and when four of them stare at him warily, he realizes his mistake. 

Ying clutches her belly and asks dazedly, “You’re a firebender?” 

Suki’s eyes narrow, and the friendly demeanor she’d had towards him vanishes. She turns to the rest of the group. “Did you know?” 

To Zuko’s surprise, Aang is angry. “Yes, we know. And it’s ridiculous to dwell on it when we’re so close to Ba Sing Se. Now come on!"

“But-but why are you traveling with a firebender? A firebender who’s  _ lying  _ about being a firebender?”

Sokka replies, “Hey, we never said he wasn’t a firebender. You just assumed.”

“I’m a defector,” Zuko explains.

“He’s our friend,” defends Katara. “Really, Suki, you can trust him. He’s done nothing but help us since he joined.” 

The testimony of the Avatar does the most to help calm Than, Ying, and Cela; while Sokka’s testimony helps smooth things over with Suki. No one asks for more information. They never ask if Lee’s his real name, which is a good thing, because he isn’t prepared for what he would say if he was asked directly. Thankfully, no one cares about the details of a firebender. 

##  A Confession

“So, in case you thought I was going to let you live it down, I just wanted to remind you that you were going to kiss Sokka’s cheek,” he comments to Toph. 

She blushes a deep pink. “Shut it, Princey. Like you wouldn’t be trying to kiss someone who saved your life.”

“It’s never occurred to me.”

“Probably because you’ve never kissed a girl.”

“That’s not even true! I’ve kissed girls!” More accurately, girls had kissed him. But he liked those kisses. 

“Oh, yeah? Name one.”

“Why? They’re all from the North. You don’t know them.” 

“That’s convenient.”

“Wait, there is one you know.” 

“Really?” 

“Mai.” 

“The  _ knives  _ girl?” Toph exclaims. 

“Yes, the knives girl. She’s been my sister’s best friend forever. Azula dared her to kiss me one day. She was nine, and I was eleven. That was my first kiss.” 

He knows Toph has effectively changed the subject, drawing this confession out of him, but he’s going to let her slide this time. After all, he’s embarrassed her enough, and she’s embarrassed herself by kissing Suki’s cheek mistakenly. Even when they end the conversation, she’s still blushing. 

##  Hope

Katara delivers Ying’s baby when she goes into labor about a mile from the Serpent’s Pass. 

“Do you want to see her?” Katara asks. 

“I can hear her from out here.” 

“Come on. It’s different when you see her. Have you ever held a newborn?” 

“No, and I’m not going to hold her. I might drop her.”

“Please, she weighs less than your swords.” Katara grabs his hand and pulls him inside the tent, where Ying lays with the baby in her arms. 

“She’s so small,” Zuko says. 

Sokka is also in the tent, looking at the baby oddly. “And squishy.”

“I’m going to get Aang,” Katara says. “He needs to see her.” 

“Does she have a name?” Zuko asks after Katara departs. 

“No, we haven’t decided on one yet.” 

“If it was a boy, it would be easy to name him in the Avatar’s honor,” her husband says. 

“Yes, but it’s a girl, and I want our daughter’s name to mean something.” 

Aang walks in behind Katara. She asks Ying to hold the baby so Aang can see her better. Ying has no objections. Katara crouches beside her and eases the baby gently into her arms. She does it so naturally that Zuko realizes she wasn’t exaggerating her skills from the South Pole. 

“Katara, be careful! She’s fragile!” Sokka cautions.

“I think it’s okay. Look, Aang.” 

“Wow,” Aang says. It’s the first time he’s shown any positive emotion in days. “I’ve, um, been going through a hard time recently. But you’ve,  _ she’s _ , made me hopeful again.” 

They name the baby Hope. Katara returns her to her loving parents and embraces Aang. 

Aang continues, “It’s just that seeing a family together, so full of happiness and love, has reminded me how I feel about Appa...and how I feel about all of you. I haven’t been treating you all so well lately, and I’m sorry.” 

Katara’s still holding on to Aang, tears in her eyes. Zuko knows how worried she’s been about him. Over Aang’s shoulder, she meets his eyes and reaches her hand for him. He’ll indulge her...this one time. Everyone else files in for a group hug. 

##  The Dream

He dreams the night Hope is born, the night before they’ll arrive in Ba Sing Se. It’s a vision as clear as the one the Foggy Swamp had shown him, of his uncle. 

His uncle wears clothes of an Earth Kingdom man, and he smiles at him. Steam begins to obscure his uncle’s face, and he’s trying to push the steam away. He’s trying to hold on to his uncle’s image just a little longer. Zuko still doesn’t know how his uncle’s image is so clear in his mind, when his mother’s is beginning to fade; perhaps it has something to do with the Wanted poster he saved.

Before the image fades completely, of his uncle in Earth Kingdom greens, it says, "Have a cup of tea with me, my nephew."

Zuko wakes with a start. The rest of the group sleeps soundly in their makeshift camp, even little Hope. When Zuko returns to sleep, he has the same dream once again.

_ Have a cup of tea with me, my nephew. _


	12. Part 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Songs from The Drill and City of Walls and Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long-awaited chapter! After this chapter, the episodes are going to become a little blurred now that there's been a significant plot development. This upcoming Ba Sing Se arc is going to be so much fun to work on. Thank you all for reading!

##  General Sung

If this was the man in command of the wall when his uncle invaded, he can see how his uncle’s siege was successful. General Sung cowers at every setback and looks like he’s ready to abandon the wall now that his ‘ _ They Don’t Call It Na Sing Se’  _ attitude has been put to the test. 

“We’re doomed!”

Zuko shares a look with Sokka as the general continues to expose his inexperience, a look that seems to say “who is this guy related to, because there's no way he got this post on his own".

Sokka slaps the man. “Get a hold of yourself!” 

“You’re right,” the general replies. “I’m sorry.” 

Zuko rolls his eyes. This kind of leadership would never be allowed in the Northern Water Tribe, and the cowardice would have been quickly quenched in the Fire Nation. They’re going to have to come up with a plan to stop this drill now that it’s clear this general doesn’t have a backup one.

##  The Hot Headed Warrior

“Two girls ambushed us. One of them hit me with a bunch of quick jabs and suddenly I couldn’t earthbend anymore and I could barely move. Then she cartwheeled away.” 

Katara’s healing hands drop from the wounded earthbender, and her eyes meet his. “Um, I have to confer with my assistant real quick. Come on, Lee, let's discuss the art of healing.” 

She grabs him by the arm and pulls him aside, far out of reach of any of the Terra Team. “If we’re facing Azula, you have to stay up here.”

“What?” he exclaims before she shushes him. In a lower voice, he adds, “I can help.”

“They know who you are. And if you reveal yourself as a firebender, you’ll never be allowed into Ba Sing Se. Then what?” 

Some of his anger fades. She’s trying to keep him safe - the way Pakku did, the way his mother did - though the hot headed warrior in him protests. “I can help,” he repeats. 

“Stay. Up. Here.”

“And do what exactly? You’re the healer, not me.” 

Her fingers dig desperately into his arm. The anger leaves from her voice. She’s no longer demanding; she’s begging. “Please, don’t do anything stupid.”

“If things look bad, I’m coming down.” It’s the best promise he can make. 

“I’ll take it.”

“And when you face Azula, remember not to let her get inside your head. You’re better off not letting her talk to you at all. She always lies.”

“Got it.” 

As she turns away from him to aid the rest of the group, he orders, “Don’t make me come down there.” 

She nods and waves to him briefly with the smallest sympathetic smile on her lips. It feels wrong to watch his group leave without him. Fire burns in his veins. He has to force it down. 

##  So Much for Ba Sing Se

It looks bad down there. He can’t see much through the layer of dust, but the drill is about to make contact with the wall. 

“Do your people do anything else besides launch boulders?” he shouts at General Sung. “Because it doesn’t seem to be working!”

“And what would  _ you  _ suggest?”

The drill makes contact with the wall. That has to be bad enough to honor his promise to Katara. He's just about to run down the paths to the ground when he looks back at the soldiers. They've stopped launching the boulders and instead look to each other in shock. They back away from the edge of the wall. “It broke through,” one of the soldiers says in disbelief. 

“Have no fear,” General Sung cautions. “The Avatar is down there.” 

The drill breaks through further and further. The vibrations hum ominously beneath their feet. 

“We need a team down there,” Zuko instructs. “We need benders working to repair the wall. Obviously the boulders aren’t breaking through the drill, so we have to make it as hard as possible for the drill to break through the wall. Anyone who wants to help, follow me.” 

He doesn’t look back to see how many are following him, but he hears the footsteps as clearly as he feels the drill’s vibrations.

##  Siblings

Azula doesn’t win. Her drill collapses from the inside out, and she is forced to retreat. 

_ You’ll never catch up _ . 

His inner voice taunts back,  _ Well, I’m in Ba Sing Se and you’re not _ .

Then Katara’s question from before rings in his ear:  _ Is that your only motivation, to be better than Azula? _

While the group rides the train through the rings of Ba Sing Se, Sokka asks, “The girl that can paralyze you with a couple finger pricks - her name’s Ty Lee right?”

“Uh, yeah,” Zuko says unsurely. “Why?”

“Just wanted to make sure. She’s the one who’s into me.”

Katara snickers from beside them. “Yeah, right!”

“She is!”

“Yeah, she caught a glimpse of your matching belt and bag and thought to herself ‘I have to have him’.”

“In Sokka’s defense, she probably is interested...since she’s interested in every single breathing human.”

“Good one.”

He smiles from Katara’s praise while Sokka sulks. Then Toph has the nerve to say, “Was she interested in you too, Zuko? Was there some tension between Ty Lee and Mai?”

“Are you aware that you are capable of keeping the things I tell you...  _ to yourself _ ?” 

Toph smirks. “I have to say, it’s never occurred to me.”

“I’m never telling you anything again.” 

“Oh, you’ll have to. I know when you’re lying.” 

“Okay, what am I missing here?” Katara asks. She’s met with silence. 

“Well what do you know? It looks like I _can_ keep things to myself.”

“Come on, Toph, tell me.” 

“Sorry, Lee told me in confidence.” 

Now it’s Sokka smiling while Katara sulks. Siblings are funny that way.

##  No Flying Bisons Here

“How has no one seen a flying bison?” Aang asks in frustration when they return to their assigned house after a day of fruitless searching. He throws his staff into the corner of the sitting room. It knocks into the wall with a thump. 

“I’m sorry, Aang,” Katara says. “We’re going to find him.” She’s been offering Aang lots of apologies and promises these days. He knows it’s starting to grate on the young boy’s nerves. 

“We can’t meet with the Earth King, we can’t find Appa - so far Ba Sing Se’s a bust.” 

“We’ve only been here a day, Sokka."

"It hasn't been a great day, and I don’t like that Joo Dee lady following us everywhere.” 

Zuko’s unnerved by her presence too. He’ll never be able to let his guard down in the house, if she’s going to be around. It was strange to him how the woman kept insisting that it would be rude to let them wander the city without an escort, especially when they kept insisting they didn’t want an escort. 

“Maybe we can make some posters of Appa, to put around the city. That way if anyone has any information they can contact us,” Katara suggests. 

Zuko doesn’t know if it’s going to work, considering how bizarre everyone acts around here, but the idea brightens Aang’s spirits. 

A couple days pass, and still no word on Appa.

##  Breaking the Rules

“Um, Lee, where are you going?”

The name still sounds odd on Katara’s tongue, but it’s the only name he’ll be able to use safely now that they’re settled into Ba Sing Se. 

“Just thought I’d go exploring.”

“Joo Dee doesn’t want us to leave without an escort,” Katara reminds him. 

“Doesn’t that just apply to Aang?”

Her eyes narrow. “You know it doesn’t.” 

“I can’t ask for an escort to go with me everywhere while we wait around for the next six to eight weeks.” Six to eight weeks. That’s how long it will take before they get an audience with the Earth King. Azula will be back with another drill by then.

“Just don’t get into any trouble,” she tells him. 

“You should know by now that you don’t need to worry about me.” 

“ _You_ should know by now that I always will,” she returns. 

He smiles. “I’ll keep an eye out for Appa,” he promises as he walks out of their house, ready to hit the streets of Ba Sing Se.

##  The Jasmine Dragon

Ba Sing Se must be the largest city he’s ever been in. He doesn’t know if the Fire Nation capital is larger than this Earth Kingdom haven; he was never allowed to see much outside of the Royal Plaza. And though the Northern Water Tribe was a force to be reckoned with, its streets were never this crowded. 

His papers give him access to every part of Ba Sing Se. He’s a first-class citizen with a false name. His feet carry him through the streets for miles, looking and looking; he isn’t sure for what, but it’s stifling to stay in that house in the Upper Ring. He has to be out. He has to know where he is. In the middle of it all, after following his feet for miles through the rings and back towards home, he relies on a different sense. He smells tea brewing nearby. 

_ Have a cup of tea with me, my nephew _ .

The scent wafts through the street, so inviting, and he feels compelled to find the shop. He finds it a block away: The Jasmine Dragon. He remembers fondly that Jasmine was his uncle’s favorite tea. He thinks he’ll order a cup of Jasmine just for Uncle Iroh.

_ Have a cup of tea with me, my nephew. _

Then he walks into the shop and hears the bell ring against the door. The shop is crowded full of customers - families, couples, men who play games of pai sho in the corner. At the counter, however, pouring a cup of tea, is the last face he expects to see. 

Zuko stands stunned beside the door, as the man looks up to him. There’s a small shock to the man’s features before he catches himself. It’s enough to tell Zuko his eyes are not betraying him. 

“Hello, young man. Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon. My name is Mushi.”

_ No it’s not,  _ Zuko screams inside his head.  _ Uncle, your name is Iroh _ . 

“Would you like to hear our specials?” 

“Uh, no, sir. I know what I want. A cup of Jasmine please.” 

His uncle smiles. “Jasmine, a wise choice.” 

He heads to the back of the shop to prepare the tea. Zuko waits on a barstool at the counter. He doesn’t need a whole table to himself. His legs shake while he waits. He doesn’t want to give his uncle away, and he doesn’t want his uncle to give him away, but there’s no greater agony than pretending they don’t know each other. 

The cup of Jasmine tea is scalding when his uncle hands it to him. Zuko notices that he’s brought not one cup, but two. “Have a cup of tea with me, my nephew,” he says, inviting him to the end of the bar.

Zuko’s heart leaps. “Uncle,” he calls quietly, “it’s so good to see you.” 

“Yes, dear boy. It’s been years since you’ve seen your Uncle Mushi, hasn’t it?” 

Zuko laughs. “Yes, it has.” Five years. It’s been five years. 

Then his uncle’s face turns accusatory. “You’ve worried Pakku sick.”

He opens his mouth to defend himself, to apologize, but his uncle holds up a hand to silence him. “I have to get back to work. Please enjoy the tea, but talking will have to wait until I close the shop. Is that alright with you?” 

“Of course, Uncle.” When his uncle turns around, leaving the tea unattended, Zuko says in the worried voice of a child, "But what about your cup of tea?"

His uncle smiles. "Don't worry, nephew. I'll keep it warm." 

He sips his tea and waits. He’ll wait as long as it takes. An hour is nothing compared to five years. 


	13. Part 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been longer than I'd like, but I wanted to get the Ba Sing Se sequence of events right before I started posting. Hope you like this chapter!

##  Uncle Iroh

When the last customer leaves right before sunset, Uncle locks the doors behind him. He pours two more cups of tea. 

“We may speak freely here, as long as we speak softly. I take great care to make sure it is safe.”

He hugs his uncle. “It’s so good to see you.” 

“It’s good to see you too, Prince Zuko, though I also worry. Was the North so dreary that you had to leave, or was the Avatar’s offer too good to pass up?”

“You know I’m with the Avatar?”   


“Pakku noticed you disappeared the same time he did. He told me I might run into you sometime. The Avatar would always end up in Ba Sing Se to meet with the Earth King.”

“How long have you been in Ba Sing Se? I thought you would be in the Fire Nation with…” _With everyone else._

“I’ve been here almost three years now.” 

“And my mother? Is she still in prison?” 

His uncle sighs. “I do not know what’s become of your mother.”

“But Uncle-”

“Prince Zuko, I know the past torments you, but in order to focus on your destiny, you must let go of it.” 

“Let go of my past? Let go of my mother?” 

“It is what she would want. She wanted you to make a new life for yourself. She knew the only way for you to make one safely would be far away from us. Now what have you done? You’ve gone chasing after us.” 

“They’re the ones chasing me,” he protests. “Azula wants to kill me. Probably on Father’s orders. They won’t let me ‘let go’ of my past.” 

“You are still as stubborn as you were as a boy,” his uncle remarks.

Zuko’s cheeks redden. “Maybe, but I’m going to teach the Avatar firebending after he masters earthbending.” 

“I have no doubt you will. I hope you do not mistake my worry for criticism. I am still very proud of you.” 

“You are?” 

“Of course I am. And above all things, I am happy to see you. It’s comforting to see you well, and so grown up. You're taller than I am now.”

He doesn't know how tall he stood compared to his uncle when he last saw him. He knows he was almost to Lu Ten's shoulders, but he doesn't want to hurt his uncle by saying that out loud. “We’ll be in Ba Sing Se for a while, and we don’t have anything to do. Is it okay if I come to the tea shop every day?” 

“Ooh, I know something that would be even better! I need a waiter.” 

“Okay,” he says, not quite sure what that has to do with him. 

“I am sure you will be able to memorize the menu in no time.” 

Ohhhh, he gets it now. 

##  The King’s Party

No one is home when he returns to the house. Normally he would only think this odd, but the fact that he doesn’t return until well after dark makes this detail worrisome. 

After a little more investigation, he finds an explanation written on the back of one of Appa’s posters, in Katara’s neat handwriting:

_ Lee, we’re going to the King’s party. No one could find you. You better be back by sundown! _

_ P.S. Toph is VERY upset you’re not here. She says you have the best manners of any of us, but I disagree. _

Zuko rolls his eyes. If they’re going to the King’s party, this could be disastrous. 

##  The Worst Possible Situation Part 2

It’s late into the night when his friends return. They file into their house defeatedly, trailed by a woman he doesn’t recognize. 

“Good night,” she says to them. No one replies. 

“Where’s Joo Dee?” Zuko whispers to Katara. 

“I think that  _ is  _ Joo Dee.”

Zuko spares another glance at the woman. She is certainly not the Joo Dee who’s been escorting them around Ba Sing Se these past couple days.

“Where were you?” Toph demands. 

“Sorry, I lost track of time-“ he begins to explain.

“Now isn’t the time for that,” interrupts Sokka. “Things are bad.”

“How bad?”

“The king won’t help us,” Aang answers. “He has no power at all. The Dai Li have all the power, and they want everyone to pretend like the war doesn’t exist.”

“And now we’ll have Dai Li agents watching us nonstop to make sure we don’t say anything about the war.”

Katara’s addition of information makes it all worse. Just when Zuko thinks he has a safe haven in his uncle’s tea shop…

“What are we going to do? We were counting on the Earth King’s help!”

“Lee, calm down.”

“Calm down? How much of the world has been destroyed in the war?”

Katara advances towards him, jaw set in anger and eyes locked on his. “You don’t have to tell me! Where’s my father? Where’s my _mother_?” she shouts back.

Of course her father is fighting in the war, and he knows the Fire Nation killed her mother. Of course he knows that everyone in the group feels his frustration. If only he could have remembered that before his outburst. Now they’re all looking at him with concern, especially Aang and Toph - these children who he’s worked tirelessly to protect. He doesn’t need them to worry about him. 

“It’s late. I’m going to bed,” he says, not that retreating to his bedroom will do him much good; he has to share a room with Aang and Sokka. 

At least Katara and Toph are in a separate room across the hall. At least he’ll have a break from those questioning blue eyes. They can discuss this new turn of events another time. 

##  Working It Out

There’s uncertainty between them now that they’ve gone to bed angry with each other. Katara lingers in his door, one foot in his bedroom and one foot out, looking down at the floor. 

“That was some fight last night, huh?” she begins nervously. “We never fight like that.”

Since he stormed out, he knew this conversation was coming. Katara likes to work things out. “We fight a lot,” he reminds her. 

“Yeah, but…” 

He understands the words she doesn’t finish. They bicker; they don’t fight. He realizes suddenly that she knows him best, now that Yue's no longer here to sit beside him. But Katara is completely different from Yue. His relationship with Katara is different from the easy camaraderie he found with Yue. Sometimes he thinks she knows him better than anyone ever did, even though they've only known each other a few months. 

“Anyway, I need to get some groceries. Do you want to come with me? I might need some help bringing them all back.”

“Yeah, of course. Just let me finish getting ready. And Katara?”

“Yeah.”

“I _am_ sorry.”

She smiles. “I’m sorry too.”

When they're out and about in the busy streets, buried in a crowd of people who don't care who they are or what they're saying to each other, he thinks it's safe enough to admit what he had been so excited to tell her last night, before the news of the Earth King threw a damper on the group. 

"I found my uncle. That's why I was out so long. He owns a tea shop not too far from here." 

Her face breaks into a wide smile, and she grabs his hand. "That's great! Were you two able to talk?" 

"Yeah, and he said I could come in anytime I wanted." 

"I want to meet him."

Her obvious delight in the situation makes him laugh. She has to be the most expressive person he knows. "I'm not promising anything. I don't want him overloading you with information about tea." 

"I bet he has some great stories about you." 

"He doesn't." 

She squeezes his hand and leads him towards a vegetable stand. He opens the satchel holding their groceries as she inspects the squash. "I'll have to ask him myself," she decides. 

"Can we have yellow squash tonight?" he asks as she picks up the green. 

"Oh, that's right. Yellow's your favorite." 

"I like green too," he reminds her. "I'll eat it if it's cheaper."

"They're the same price. But I want to get the one you _really_ like."

"What if the others prefer green?" he asks to be difficult, to watch her nose turn up at him the way it does whenever he gets under her skin. 

"Then they should have come with me," she replies. "Yellow squash it is." 

It's like they never fought at all. 

##  An Apron

He is careful not to cross paths with anyone else in the house. Sokka’s out. Aang’s doing something with animals. Katara and Toph are having a spa day. No one will see him in the apron Uncle says he has to wear if he’s going to help with the tea shop...except that Katara and Toph are coming up the steps as soon as he’s leaving. 

“And where are  _ you _ going?” Katara asks. 

“What’s all that on your face?”

“Make-up. Toph and I look like proper Ba Sing Se girls now.” 

She should be careful saying that. There are plenty of songs about Ba Sing Se girls, none of them proper. 

“So the spa was good?”

“ _Very_ good. And long overdue.”

“Katara, he’s trying to distract you,” Toph says. “He still hasn’t said where he’s going.” 

Zuko groans. “Really, Toph?”

“Sorry, it’s a girls’ day. I have to team up with Katara.” 

“If you must know, I’m going to my uncle’s tea shop.” 

Katara scans her eyes over his apron. “You’re going to  _ work _ in your uncle’s tea shop!” 

She’s so delighted by the news for some reason. He leaves her laughing. He wants to tell her that his uncle says serving tea builds character, but he already knows that will make her laugh harder. 

##  Day 1 On The Job

“The menu should be fairly easy to remember,” his uncle begins to explain. “We have sixteen varieties of tea.”

“Sixteen!” Zuko exclaims. The outburst doesn’t alarm his uncle in the slightest, who continues on with the orientation. 

“Yes, sixteen, as well as four types of cake and ten types of dumplings.”

The apron around his waist feels tighter, and the kitchen feels warmer somehow. “Uncle, I’m never going to remember all that!”

“I have faith in you, my nephew. Come, let’s go greet the customers. Try to look happy.” 

The request is absurd to him. He’s the missing Fire Prince, hiding under a false name, hoping no one notices that he's working in the Dragon of the West's tea shop. It’s enough to keep him awake at night. He’ll have to forget some of those details if he wants to make room for the extensive menu. 

By the end of the day, he still gets the specials wrong, and he can only remember the meat in five of the dumplings. but that night his uncle makes a special blend of oolong that they share. They talk so long his tea goes cold, and in the briefest second, his uncle reaches his palm to the porcelain and the drink is warm again. 

##  Day 2 On The Job

“Uncle, some girl’s asking for magnolia palm tea. That doesn’t exist, right?”

Though his uncle does not turn his eyes from the teapot, he can see the disapproval set in the man’s shoulders. “It is not our most popular blend, but it is no less important than the others. It is also a favorite of one of my favorite customers.”

“I’ll tell her we have it,” Zuko replies disinterestedly, silently hoping his uncle doesn’t ramble on about the intricacies of magnolia palm. 

“Let me come with you. I want to introduce you as my nephew.”

“Why?”

“It’s Jin. Jin and her father always ask for magnolia palm tea. They are good friends of mine, and they will be delighted to meet you.” 

He could burn the paper in his hands. His uncle already made him introduce himself to what felt like dozens of people yesterday.  _ He’s happy to be reunited with you _ , Katara told him when he expressed his frustration, blue eyes twinkling. He stopped complaining once she said that, when he realized there were people she wanted to be reunited with too.

“Let’s go see them.” His uncle wipes his hands on his apron and leads them from the kitchen through the door that connects with the front of the tea house. Zuko spies the father and daughter at a table near the front counter. 

“Mati! Jin! How pleasant it is to see good friends.” 

“Mushi, it’s always a pleasure.” 

“This is my nephew, Lee, from the west. His parents have sent him to work for me in the shop.”

Jin smiles. “Nice to meet you, Lee.” 

“Nice to meet you, too. Um, it turns out we have the magnolia palm tea you asked for.”

His uncle laughs. “You must forgive my nephew. He is still learning the menu.”

“Of course,” says Mati. “You never mentioned you were expecting family.” 

“The arrangements were only just made,” his uncle explains.

“I see. Does he play pai sho as well as you?”

“He is not yet seasoned, but I don’t doubt his progress. My brother taught him well.”

Zuko knows he’s referring to Pakku and not Ozai. He bids images of Ozai away in favor of the memories spent across the table from Pakku, learning all he could from the master.

“Perhaps he could teach my Jin one day. She still hasn’t picked it up yet.” 

“What a lovely idea!”

Zuko doesn’t think it’s lovely. In fact, Zuko wants to get away from the table. “I’m going to go check on the tea,” he says suddenly, walking back to the kitchen before his uncle can reveal that the tea has not yet been started. 

##  Day 3 On the Job

“The magnolia palm tea girl’s back.”

“Jin,” his uncle corrects. “I’ll prepare two cups.”

“One,” he replies. “Her father’s not with her.” 

“How interesting.” His uncle hands him the steaming cup and then starts grinding the herbs to prepare a pot of jasmine, a patron favorite. 

“Aren’t you coming out to say hello like you did yesterday?”

“I don’t see the need. You two have been introduced.” There’s a pleasant lilt to his uncle’s voice that twists at Zuko’s stomach. “I think you will like what she has to say.” 

“What could she possibly say to me, Uncle?” 

“Take her the tea, and find out.”

Jin smiles when he sets the tea in front of her. She looks up from the flier she’s been reading and thanks him. “Have you heard of this?” she asks, handing the flier to him. 

It’s a festival celebrating the king. Didn’t he just have a party? 

“We have really nice festivals here, and I was thinking since you’re new to Ba Sing Se, I could show you around?”

Kaia used to look at him like that. Kaia and Ninka, whenever they wanted to go to the Festival of the Full Moon with him. Even if this girl does like some part of him, he’s sure this was concocted by his uncle. 

But she’s nice, and maybe she’ll be able to show him parts of Ba Sing Se he hasn’t seen yet. Maybe he wants to be away from the house as much as possible, away from the Dai Li watching them night and day. Maybe what Master Pakku once told Katara is true; maybe he is a player. 

“Yeah, I’d like that.” 


	14. Part 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a favorite of mine. Also, I hope you guys aren't too upset about Zuko's date with Jin. One thing I like about writing this is how Zuko's had a relatively harmless childhood away from his dad and sister, so he has the freedom to make some silly decisions. Thanks for reading!

##  Debts Owed

“Why does your hair look like that?”

He frowns. He told Uncle the slicked-back style looked stupid. “I have a date.”

“A date? With who?”

“A girl from The Jasmine Dragon.”

“Oh.” Then Katara giggles. “Are you going on your date like that?”

“Uncle insisted.”

“Come here.” Before he can protest, she’s standing on her tiptoes and mussing the gel holding the front pieces of his hair back. Her fingers brush against his neck when she finishes. “There. That’s better.”

“Tell me you didn’t make it worse.”

“I didn’t, I promise. I’ve never seen you wear it all down before.”

“I usually tie it back,” he concedes.

“Yeah, you do. Anyways, it looks good. You have, um, good hair.”

He smiles. “Well, I should go.”

“Guess so.”

As he leaves their Ba Sing Se house, she calls to him, “Hey! Don’t you owe me a date?”

“What?”

“The Festival of the Full Moon,” she reminds him. “You asked me to go with you.”

“If you remember, it got canceled.”

“So you owe me one.”

He laughs, cheeks reddening. “Consider me in your debt.” 

##  A Couple Realizations Part 2

The night air is perfect as the two of them walk through the decorated streets. 

“So where are you from originally?”

He’s rehearsed this answer. “My uncle told me we’re not supposed to talk about our lives before Ba Sing Se.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“What’s your favorite part of the city?”

“How big it is,” he answers. “There have to be a million people here, in all the rings.”

“There are,” Jin answers proudly. 

“You guys have lots of celebrations too.”

“We have a lot to celebrate.”

“What’s this one for, exactly?” 

“It’s the Lantern Festival. Every year we light lanterns to help guide our ancestors and their wisdom back to us. Don’t they do this in other parts of the Earth Kingdom?”

It’s very possible they do, but he doesn’t know of this celebration. The Fire Nation's holidays are a little different, and the Water Tribe celebrations are dedicated to Tui and La. “Not where I’m from,” he answers. 

“You’ll love it. The whole sky lights up.” 

They pass a street filled with vendors. There’s barely any space to walk. “The whole city too, I guess.” 

“Oh, yeah. It’s a big deal. I’ll show you my favorite place to get food. Lee?”

He’s paused by one of the stalls while she’s kept walking. He knows he should keep walking too, but he’s too captivated by the masks. He didn’t know  _ Love Amongst the Dragons  _ was a story known anywhere but the Fire Nation, but his eyes don’t defy him. Here, hanging from a stall in Ba Sing Se, is the mask of the Dark Water Spirit, a character of his mother’s favorite play. 

“Cool mask,” Jin says. 

“Yeah. I’m gonna buy it actually.” 

“You should. It’s really cool.” It’s more than cool. It makes him think about how happy his mother was to sit in the Royal Box at the theater on Ember Island. He hated those productions. The Ember Island Players  _ always  _ ruined  _ Love Amongst the Dragons _ , but Princess Ursa took her family every year. He sat next to Azula and committed everything to memory, though he wanted to forget how bad their productions were. 

But he can’t say any of that out loud. He realizes he’ll never be able to, even if he’s enjoyed his evening out with Jin.

He buys the mask. 

“Come on, let’s see it on you.”

He hadn’t bought it to wear. He bought it to remember his mother. But it would be odd not to indulge her. He puts the mask on. He peers at his date through the darkly covered eyes. 

“Looking good, Lee!”

“Thanks,” he replies drily. 

##  The Haikus

When he returns to the house, Sokka is in the common area. He holds a finger up, a sign of the haiku habit he’s fallen into. Even though no one _dares_ to suggest that Sokka cheats on his syllables, he still likes to count them off when he speaks. 

“You took some girl out.

This left my sister alone.

I wish you, the best.”

“Was she upset? She seemed fine when I left. She even-“ Somehow mentioning that she brushed her fingers through his hair doesn’t seem like the best thing to say. 

“You’re feeling guilty. 

I wonder what could be wrong.

Oh, right. Your mistake.”

He wants to ask if she’s still awake, but he can’t bear to listen to another haiku. He storms into the room to sleep, mask firmly clutched in his hand, thinking that if he had been out with Katara, he could have told her about the play.

##  Asking Uncle

The steam is calming as it rises from the pot of brewing ginseng. His uncle prepares it just for the two of them now that the shop is closed. By now, he can name all of the dumplings on the menu. He still forgets some of the teas sometimes. 

“Uncle, you’ve been here for three years.” 

“Yes, I have.”

“How do you survive when no one can know who you are?” 

“You are lucky. You have friends who know you are.”

“But it’s not the same. How do you spend three years without bending? How do you stop responding to your name?” 

“I am happy here, happier than I could ever be at home. That’s how.” 

“Don’t you ever miss it?”  _ Don’t you ever miss being the crown prince? Don’t you miss the palace? Don’t you miss the gardens? Don’t you miss the weather? Don’t you miss the food?  _

His uncle smiles grimly. “I miss my son, Prince Zuko. And there is nowhere I will find him, so I make a life for myself here.” 

##  The Zoo

All week, Aang pesters him about the zoo he’s created in the middle of Ba Sing Se. 

“He just  _ made  _ a zoo?” he asks Toph. 

“Are you surprised?” she shoots back. 

“You have to see it, Zuko!” Aang insists. “I want all of us to go.”

“On my day off,” he promises. 

His day off comes, and Aang doesn’t forget. The five of them plan to spend the day at the zoo. Katara packs a basket for lunch. She even packs a sheet for them all to sit on. 

“You’re going all out,” Zuko says as he helps her fold the sheet. 

“Come on, this is the first thing he’s been excited about since  _ Appa _ . Try to be a little more enthusiastic.” 

“I guess he _is_ happy about it.”

“Exactly, and we’re going to be happy with him. We’re his family.” 

_ Family _ , he repeats to himself cautiously. He’s never thought of them as his family. Friends, of course, but  _ family _ \- family is such a strong word. But isn’t that what they are? Hasn’t Katara said the truth of it? He’ll sacrifice himself for any one of them here. He’ll live in Ba Sing Se under a fake name just to help them. He’ll listen to Sokka speak in haikus without punching him in the face. He’ll help Toph convince Sokka their house is haunted. He’ll fold a sheet if Katara asks him to just because a day at the zoo will make Aang happy.

“Is the family getting a new member?” 

“What?” he asks, thrown out of his thoughts. 

“Jin? You never told me how it went.” 

“You never asked.”

“I just figured you would tell me.” 

“I don’t think we’ll go out again,” he admits. 

“Oh. I’m sorry.” 

He shrugs. “Don’t be. I bought a mask.” 

“A mask?” 

“Yeah. It’s from a play. My mother’s favorite play.”

She smiles as she tucks the carefully folded sheet into the basket. “Can I see it?” 

“Yeah.”

She thinks it’s beautiful. Her fingers trace the details as she stands in his room, holding it reverently.

“It’s not supposed to be beautiful. It’s the face of the Dark Water Spirit. It’s supposed to be menacing.” 

“I still think it’s beautiful.”

“Zoo time!” Sokka shouts from the front door. “Lee! Katara! Let’s go already!”

“We’re coming!” they chorus back. Katara gently sets the mask back in the drawer he’d retrieved it from, and they walk to join the others together. 

##  Asking Uncle Part 2

“...Sencha, Oolong, Matcha...that’s only fifteen. Uncle, which one am I missing?”

“If I told you, that would defeat the purpose of the exercise.” 

“Did I say Goji Berry already?”

“You did.”

“Shoumei-”

“You said that one too.”

“I know that! I’m starting over!” 

“Ah, then carry on.” 

“Shoumei, White, Yellow...Lychee! Lychee’s the one I forgot!”

His uncle grins. “Very good. You know, Lychee sounds delightful. I’ll make that for us tonight.”

##  Asking Uncle Part 3

“Uncle, can you work the front counter for a minute?”

“And leave you alone with the tea? Absolutely not!” His uncle looks affronted at the mere suggestion. Zuko wants to slam his head against the counter as Uncle Iroh returns to steeping his tea leaves.

His reaction is justified, unfortunately. The last time Zuko tried to make tea, Uncle wouldn’t even throw it out, for fear the animals would drink it and face adverse health effects. But this is an emergency. 

“Please. Jin and her dad just walked in.”

“Ah, you are running away from them.”

“I’m not running away from them. I’m trying to avoid an awkward situation.”

“Nephew, I am sure they’ve put the whole thing past them. Besides, I warned Mati about your reputation from the very beginning.”

“My reputation?”

“Why, yes. My brother told me you were _quite_ the ladies’ man. He said several girls desired courtships with you. You must get it from your uncle.” He wiggles his eyebrows. Zuko suddenly feels the urge to vomit.  Why does Pakku insist on keeping this falsehood alive? He knows well now that he's not a player. He can't help it if girls won't leave him alone. 

“I can’t take their orders.”

“You can, and you will.”

“Uncle, please!”

“He who cannot close the door he opens will forever need a blanket.”

“What does that even mean?” Zuko shouts in frustration, but it’s no use. His uncle is stubborn as a rock, and he will not move from the kitchen. Zuko cracks the door open and sees the customers filing in. He sighs.

“I guess you should put a pot of magnolia palm on. I’ll go see if they want food.” 

“An excellent choice.” 

“Yeah, sure.  _ Choice _ ,” he mutters sarcastically. 

##  The Printer

He hears her muttering well into the night. Her frustrated curses are nothing out of the ordinary; she often spends this time to herself working on her own training, but tonight she sounds on the verge of tears. 

He throws his covers off him and finds her in the common area of the house, hunched over Sokka’s desk. Her eyes are bloodshot, and her fingers are coated in ink. 

“Um, Katara?”

“I think I broke it,” she says dejectedly.

“Is that Aang’s printer?” 

“Mmm-hmm. I thought I could stay up late and make lots of posters for him to hand out in the morning. I was going to surprise him.” She holds up a single paper, the perfect image of their missing bison, and then slams it back on the desk. “I made _one_ , and I broke it.” 

“Well, how do you know it’s broken?” 

She pulls him onto the bench beside her and thrusts the object in front of him. Sitting closely to her, he can see the ink isn’t resigned to her fingers. It’s stuck to the apples of her cheeks, the corners of her eyes, the roots of her hair. 

He can’t help but laugh.

“ _ What _ ?” she demands. 

“You’re covered in ink.”

“Of course I am! I’ve been messing with this thing for an hour!” 

“It’s just funny. You look-”

“Ridiculous, I know,” she replies in frustration, blowing away the strands of hair that have fallen into her face. 

“That’s not what I was gonna say.” In fact, he doesn’t know how that sentence was going to end, but she looks far from ridiculous. “Just let me see it.” 

“Be my guest.” 

The printer is simple enough. An image of Appa is carved into several blocks of wood, each containing a different part of the image. The wood is covered in ink and then impressed onto a piece of paper. At least before Katara touched it. 

“What did you do?” 

“I dropped it. Now I can’t figure out how the pieces are supposed to go. I’ve been trying to arrange them like a puzzle.” 

He picks up one of the carvings and inspects it. “Did you forget what Appa looks like?” 

She rolls her eyes. 

“Are you imagining the pieces reflected?”

She stares at him blankly. “What?”

“You know, since they’re pressed against the paper, the original image has to be a reflection.” 

She leans her head exasperatedly against his shoulder and groans. He chuckles at her. “I can’t believe I didn’t think about that.” 

“We all have our moments.” 

“Ugh, I’m going to get washed up. Get all this stupid ink off me.” She inspects her hands with a grimace. “Can you…”

“Yeah, I’ll put the wood pieces together.”

He misses the weight of her head when she picks it up from his shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispers.

_ Cute _ \- that was the word he wanted before. She’s clearly determined, but there’s a softness to her that’s wholly endearing. The word comes to him clearly now that he can see her ink-spotted features closely in the candlelight. But that word will never leave his lips. 

He looks down on his shoulder. “I think you got ink on me.” 

“You’ll live.” 

“I don’t know.” 

She dips a finger into the inkwell and grazes it across his cheek. She giggles. “There. Now we match.” 

“This is the thanks I get for staying up late with you and fixing your mess?”

“Yes, it is.”

He wipes at the ink with the palm of his hand. From her giggling, he can tell he’s made it worse. “Fix it.” 

“No, I think you got it all.” 

“Katara-”

“Really, you did.” 

He didn’t. He knows he didn’t. But that smile of hers is unbelievably cute, and the longer he keeps the ink on his cheek, the brighter it gets. 


	15. Part 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Songs from Lake Laogai

##  Katara Visits the Shop

“What are you doing here?” he hisses at Katara.

“I was in the area and had a craving for some tea. The uniform looks great on you, by the way.”

“Ugh, go away, Katara.”

“Come on, I’m a paying customer. Plus I have a whole afternoon to kill. Please can I stay?”

“Nephew, who is this lovely young lady you would deny the joy of tea?”

Zuko sighs. He hadn’t noticed his uncle exit the kitchen and approach the front counter. “Uncle, this is Katara. Katara, this is my uncle,” he introduces lazily.

“Well, now I know why things didn’t work out with Jin.”

“Uncle!”

“Miss Katara, my nephew will escort you to a beautiful table. Make sure it has a floral centerpiece and a lantern, Lee.”

He rolls his eyes. “Sure thing, Uncle Mushi.”

“A pleasure to meet you, my dear.”

Katara smiles. “And you.”

“What kind of tea do you want?” Zuko asks. 

Katara shrugs. “What’s your favorite?”

“Um, the oolong’s good, I guess.”

“Wow, what a stellar recommendation,” she quips sarcastically. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you weren’t happy to see me.”

“We see each other all the time,” he reminds her. “Plus I’m working. I can’t exactly drink tea with you all afternoon.”

She taps the satchel at her hip. “I brought some reading material to pass the time. I  _ had  _ to get out of the house. Sokka was driving me crazy.”

“Was he only speaking in haikus?”

“How did you know?” she wonders with wide eyes.

“Everyone knows. He's been doing it for days. It's so annoying.”

“Spirits,  _ yes _ .”

“Here’s the table my uncle wanted you to have. Let me get that lantern lit real quick.” He plucks it from the table and takes it back to the kitchen. 

“One oolong tea for Katara,” he recites. 

His uncle smiles back at him exaggeratedly. “In all of your descriptions of the Avatar’s waterbending master, you neglected to mention her age...or how pretty she is.” 

Zuko’s cheeks pinken. “Drop it.” 

“Nephew, if you bury truth in a golden coffin, it will break open.” 

Zuko rolls his eyes and uses the spark rocks to light the lantern - the whole time he thinks how easy it would be to light it with his fingers. 

When he returns, there’s a boy sitting beside Katara. Katara does not look happy about it.

“Get lost, Jet.” 

“Katara, I told you. I’m turning a new leaf.”

“And  _ she  _ told you to get lost,” Zuko says, placing the lantern between them. 

Jet stands and appraises him. There’s a tiger hook sword at his waist. Zuko wishes he had his swords on him now. A piece of straw hangs from the boy’s mouth. Someone, a girl by the sound of her voice, calls out, “Come on, Jet. Let’s go.”

Jet acquiesces, though he keeps his eyes on Katara as he leaves. “See ya around.”

_ Like hell you will _ , he thinks. “Okay. Who the hell was that?”

Katara sighs. “I don’t want to talk about it.” 

She’ll tell him eventually. She always comes to him, ever since those nights they spent sitting side by side while Sokka and Yue were off gallivanting through the North Pole. So he says nothing to push her for the rest of the afternoon. He brings her refills and a tray of rice cakes for a snack, and he notices that while her eyes stay glued to her bound book, she has not once turned a page. 

Later, when his uncle dismisses him for his lunch break, she breaks one of the rice cakes in half and tells him all about Jet the Jerk. 

##  Joo Dee

“Do you think she’s just pretending so we think we’re crazy?” Katara asks him when their escort drops them back off at their house, the same Joo Dee as before.

“Wouldn’t Toph be able to tell?” he returns. 

“Then what do you think they did to her, to make her forget?” 

“I don’t know.” 

Her face falls. “Have you ever seen anything like it before?”

“No.”

“Not even in the…”  _ In the Fire Nation _ , she means.

“No.” He’s realizing so much went on around him that he didn’t understand as a child, but he can’t recall anything like this.

“What if they wipe our memories?” 

“That won’t happen.”

“It could, if we break the rules. We haven’t been following them very well.”

“We must be, or the Dai Li would have taken us by now.” 

“Maybe none of us should be alone anymore.”

She’s really shaken up by this, he realizes.  It is certainly unnerving. The idea that someone can take that part of you, the part that’s integral to your individuality, and no one would even know…

“We all have to be alone sometimes,” he reminds her. “I have to go to work soon.” 

“I can go with you.”

Her time would be better spent training with Aang, but if she feels comfortable enough to leave him, that’s her decision. “If you want,” he says. 

She nods her head.

##  Embarrassment

As soon as his uncle sees Katara, he immediately sets up another table with a lantern and floral centerpiece. Zuko rolls his eyes. “He’s so embarrassing.”

“I think it’s sweet. He wants to be nice to your friends.”

“He wants us to go on a date,” he blurts out impulsively. Her lips purse in surprise, and his own eyes widen because he hadn’t meant to give life to that idea. His cheeks redden. “Let me put in your tea order.”

He forgets that she hasn’t ordered yet. 

##  Two Daggers

Uncle Iroh sends Katara home when Aang comes looking for her, though she protests at first. “You are a good friend, Katara. I will make sure Lee gets home safe,” he assures her. 

She acquiesces, letting Aang tug her away back to their house. 

Now the two of them lock up the tea shop together. Uncle brews a pot of tea for them to share, as is the custom they’ve fallen into. 

“I didn’t bring a lot of things with me when I left, but I did bring  _ this _ .” His uncle sets a dagger on the table, and Zuko realizes the significance immediately. “Your room was not cleared out when you left,” he explains. “Your mother’s room was— looking for evidence—but yours wasn’t. I don’t know what compelled me to take it. Perhaps I always knew we’d be reunited.”

Everything about the dagger is the same. He flips the pearl handle and examines the inscription. 

_ Never give up without a fight.  _

“Thank you, Uncle.”

“Of course. It belongs to you.”

It’s the last symbol of his life before everything changed. Lu Ten was still alive when Uncle Iroh sent that dagger back home as a gift for his beloved nephew. 

He sheaths the dagger in its black cover. As the two return to sipping their tea, he reaches into his left boot for his whalebone dagger. 

“This is a beautiful weapon,” his uncle comments, turning it over in his hands. 

“It was a gift from Princess Yue when I turned sixteen.”

“How lovely.” His thumb traces the inscription.

“Those are the moon and ocean spirits. Tui and La,” Zuko explains, remembering the wrath of La, remembering the oasis, remembering Yue. 

“Yes, they are.” The way his uncle says it adds more meaning to the words. He considers asking his uncle for more information; he remembers Master Pakku saying his uncle knew the spirits well. 

“These are good messages. Never give up without a fight. And this one—remember the spirits, remember your destiny.”

“My destiny?”

“Yes, your destiny.”

Zuko’s had quite a bit of advice over the years. 

_ Every movement must have intention.  _ Master Piandao taught him that. He can hear the master’s voice clear as day, even after all these years.  _ The swords are an extension of yourself. They breathe the life you give them.  _

Later, he learned the same thing about fire from Master Chizem.  _ Your fire is a reflection of yourself.  _

Master Nanouk taught him that wielding a weapon is no clumsy affair; it must be natural and fluid, like water.  _ Water is never clumsy.  _

Master Pakku taught him to value patience and control.  _ Patience is a bitter plant, but its fruit is sweet.  _

And now, his uncle advises him. 

_ Never give up without a fight.  _

_ Remember your destiny.  _

##  Jet the Jerk 

Zuko wishes he hadn’t looked out the door. But he does, for just a quick second, and spies Jet staking the place out across the street. 

“Shit,” he mutters to himself. “Uncle, I’ll be right back.”

“Hurry back,” his uncle replies. The lunch crowd will be coming in soon. 

“Hey!” he shouts at Jet, cognizant of how quickly he can reach for his daggers. “Katara told you to get lost.”

“I know she did,” the boy says cockily, chewing on a piece of straw. He reveals to Zuko the leaflet he's holding in his hand. It’s one of Appa’s posters, straight from the printer. 

“Where did you get that?” 

“Fell from the sky.”

Aang must be distributing them through the city. “Well, give it back.”

“But I have valuable information. That’s why I’m here. I want to see Katara.”

Zuko’s jaw tightens. “She’s not here.”

“Then take me to her.”

“No.”

“I guess you don’t want to know where Appa is.”

“You don’t know where he is,” Zuko says, forcibly seizing the poster from Jet’s hand. Jet laughs. It’s decided for Zuko then; he pulls his pearl dagger from his boot. 

“Testy,” Jet replies, arming himself with his twin tiger hooks. Zuko _needs_ to get a new set of swords. “But I do know where Appa is.”

“Then take me there.” 

“I need Katara.”

“No, you don’t. Just take me.”

“Fine. You want to make things difficult, go right ahead. It’s this way.” 

##  Lake Laogai

“There’s nothing here.” 

“Look, there was this guy I worked with. He couldn’t stop talking about the war, even though it made everyone uncomfortable. He got arrested by the Dai Li. Then he came back, completely different, saying he went on this trip to Lake Laogai.”

_ Lake Laogai _ , that’s where Joo Dee said she went. 

“His memory of being arrested, the war...it was all gone. So I know something fishy’s going on here. I think there’s a bunker beneath the lake.” 

“You think? So you don’t know?”

Jet smirks. “That’s kinda why I wanted Katara. I’m almost positive it’s down here.” 

Zuko hadn’t wanted to get everyone’s hopes up about Appa if Jet was lying. But they will need Katara. They’ll need Toph too, and if he whisks away those two members of the group, there’s no doubt it will catch the attention of Aang and Sokka as well. Protecting Aang may not be an option this time.

"Ugh, come on." 

##  Toph, the Human Lie Detector 

“When you were telling me about Jet, you didn’t mention he was your boyfriend,” says Zuko as the group splits up to scan every closed cell. If Appa’s being kept anywhere, it’s definitely here. 

“That’s because he wasn’t.”

“That’s what you told Toph, and she said you were lying.”

“Why does it matter?” she shouts in frustration. “We’re trying to find Appa!” 

“Yeah, Zuko,” echoes Sokka. “Why does it matter?”

“Stay out of it, Sokka!” they chorus. 

“Um, guys, a little help over here,” Aang calls from down the hall. They can hear the sounds of a fight breaking out immediately. 

Sokka turns to him and his sister just as they’re about to sprint down the hall. “Wait. Keep looking for Appa.” 

“Are you crazy?” Katara asks him.

“We’ll hold them off. You two go.”

“I can help,” Katara insists.

“And I have other ways to fight besides bending,” he reminds Sokka angrily. 

“I know, but we have to find Appa. We’ve pissed off Long Feng and all his agent, so we need a quick escape. We can’t make it out of here without Appa. Besides, we need people on the outside to help us in case things go wrong.”

Katara smiles. “Be careful,” she says.

Sokka runs off towards the fighting, towards the rest of the group. Katara tugs Zuko's hand. “Come on. Let’s find Appa.” 

He nods. 

##  Metal Melts

“It’s us, boy,” Katara says to soothe the growling sky bison. She hugs his leg. Zuko waves at him from beside her. “Now let’s find out how to get these cuffs off you.” 

“Can you break through them with your ice?” 

“Yeah, but it'll take a while. This is strong metal.” 

Zuko takes a palm to the chains. It’s comforting to summon the flames. As the chains begin to glow orange and weaken beneath him, he smiles back at Katara. “Metal melts.” 


	16. Part 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Songs from The Earth King and The Guru

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your support of this story! We're coming to the conclusion of the Ba Sing Se arc, and then we'll really be in for it.

##  Toph, the Human Lie Detector Part 2

“Jet?” Katara demands. “Where’s Jet?” 

“He’s okay,” Sokka insists, taking Appa’s reins. “He told us to go ahead. He said he’d be okay.” 

Toph taps him on the shoulder. Zuko leans back towards her, close enough to hear her whisper forlornly, “He lied.” 

##  Pulling Out All The Stops

Sokka and Aang want to go to the Earth King. Now that they have Appa, they can make a quick escape if things go wrong. Katara and Toph want to abandon Ba Sing Se altogether. 

They all turn to him. 

“I guess you’re the deciding vote, Zuko” Aang says. 

“Alright then. Time to leave Ba Sing Se.”

“I’m sorry, Katara. I didn’t realize _you_ were named Zuko,” protests Sokka. 

She huffs. “Fine then. Go ahead, Zuko.” 

Katara’s hands are on her hips. Her eyes plead with him to vote on her side. “Ba Sing Se is the only substantial military power left in the Earth Kingdom,” he reminds her. “We need it.” 

“That sounds like a vote for going to the Earth King!” 

“He’ll be protected,” Toph cautions. “We’ll have to bring our A game if we want an audience with him.” 

“Does that mean I can firebend?” 

“No! You’ll be arrested!” 

“Oh, please, Sugar Queen. He’s with the Avatar. The Earth King doesn’t even know about the war. We’ll do some explaining, sort a few things out; it’ll all be fine. We need to pull out all the stops if we’re going to do this.”

“Then it’s decided. Appa, Yip Yip!” 

The ride to the palace passes slowly. He has none of the apprehension he usually feels in the midst of a confrontation; he feels strangely calm. He knows that they’re making the right decision. He knows that their audience with the Earth King has the potential to be a turning point in Ba Sing Se history. 

The King's guards don’t make it easy on them. Whenever the five of them clear one obstacle, it seems like two more spring from its place. 

Like Toph said, it’s time to pull out all the stops. Zuko takes those words to heart. He clears passageways with walls of fire; none of the guards dare come too close to him. They pelt him with boulders more than any member of the group, but the others are watching out for him. Every time, Aang deflects the blow, or Toph aims rocks right back at them. 

Five teenagers against all of the Earth King’s guard—the teenagers win. 

##  Proof

“Wow,” Kuei marvels at the group, though his eyes linger on Zuko. “A  _ firebender _ .” 

“Your eyes deceive you, Your Majesty.”

“No, I saw it. He was firebending.”

“A circus trick,” Long Feng says.

“Oh, yeah,” Zuko challenges, creating a ring of fire around the group. “How’s that for a circus trick?”

“I don’t understand. The firebenders are gone, wiped out by the Plague.”

“The  _ what _ ?” Sokka demands.

“The plague. It wiped out the Fire Nation. It killed millions around the world. Ba Sing Se was mercifully kept safe by our walls. It’s why I can’t leave the palace, why no one can come in.” 

“Yes, Your Majesty,” utters Long Feng menacingly. “For your safety, we have to take the Avatar and his friends into custody. They could be carriers of the plague, especially that firebender.” 

“There’s no plague!” Aang shouts at the same time Kuei asks, “ _You’re_ the Avatar?”

“Yes, I am! Long Feng is hiding a war from you, one that’s lasted a whole century!” 

“A ridiculous accusation! And you have no proof!” 

They show the King Appa’s bite on Long Feng’s leg. It’s enough to convince him to leave the palace. They take him to Lake Laogai, only to learn that the underground bunker has been quickly destroyed. As a last attempt, they take him to the Outer Wall, where his sister’s drill mercifully remains. The Fire Nation’s insignia is visible even a mile high.

“How’s that for proof?” 

##  The King’s New Best Friend

The Dai Li arrest their leader on their majesty’s command. 

“My liege, we will also have to take the firebender into custody.”

“What? But he’s a friend of the Avatar,” King Kuei protests. “Surely all of the Avatar’s friends are granted diplomatic immunity.” 

The Dai Li agent bristles. “Uh...uh...is that your official stance?”

“Yes, it is!”

“Your Majesty, as your trusted agents-”

“Trusted!” Sokka exclaims. “You were part of the whole conspiracy!” 

The king scratches at his chin. “Hmm, he does have a point.” 

“Your Majesty, we have no files on him. None. We have detailed files on everyone else in the Avatar’s party _except_ this “Lee” character. We have to apprehend him.”

“You couldn’t find any information on me because I had to use an alias to get into the city, but I mean no harm,” Zuko explains. 

“Well, what is your real name?” queries Kuei.    


His answer sticks in his throat at first. “Zuko. Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation.” 

The Dai Li agents all take a step back; Kuei, on the other hand, claps his hands in glee. “A prince! How exciting! I’ve never met another prince before.” 

“Your Majesty-”

“Oh, no! You can’t take Prince Zuko into custody. We have too much to talk about. In fact, I think our lineages are reason enough to become best friends. And that is my official stance,” he adds pointedly. 

Zuko blinks.

“You must come back to the palace after this. Of course, the rest of you are all invited, but Prince Zuko especially. He has to meet Bosco.”

“Bosco?”

“My pet bear! I guess until now _he_ was my best friend. I’ve never had a human best friend before!” 

Katara, standing beside him, has the audacity to  _ laugh _ .

##  The Ba Sing Se Files

“Well, that explains why we could never find any information on Lee.”

There are secret files on everyone who resides in Ba Sing Se, each containing information collected by the Dai Li. Toph, Katara, Sokka, and Aang all have messages waiting for them. 

Lee's file is empty.

“Do you have anything for Zuko then?” he asks hopefully. He wants to feel some of the others’ joy. He wants to light up the way Toph did when she found out her mom was in the city. He wants good news too. Deep down, a part of him wonders if his mother has finally contacted him. 

“No,” replies the Dai Li agent. “We’ll let you know if we receive something.”

##  Separate Ways: Aang

The Avatar’s bursting with excitement, all packed for his trip to the Eastern Air Temple. “I can’t believe I’m going to learn how to master the Avatar state from a real guru!”

His energy is contagious, and there’s no harm in smiling now that King Kuei’s on their side. “This is a great opportunity for you,” Zuko says. “Work hard, Aang.”

“I will, I promise.”

Zuko clasps his hand on Aang’s shoulder affectionately. “I know you will.” 

##  Separate Ways: Sokka

“Are you sure you don’t need me to help plan the invasion?” Sokka asks his sister again. 

She laughs. “Just go, Sokka.”

“Anything you want me to tell Dad?”

“Just that I can’t wait to see him again. Anything you want me to tell Suki? The Kyoshi Warriors will be here soon.” 

“Tell her I can’t wait to see her again,” he repeats. 

Katara nods and rushes into her brother’s arms. “Hey, cheer up. It won’t be long. And Zuko?”

He straightens when Sokka calls him. “Yeah?”

“Look after my sister.” 

“I will.” 

When Aang and Sokka take off on Appa, he notices Katara wipe a tear from her eye. “Are you crying?”

She shakes her head. 

“I can see you, you know. Sokka’s right. It won’t be long.”

She sniffles. “I know. It’s just...this is the first time we’ve ever been separated before.”

When another tear falls, he wraps an arm around her shoulders and tucks her into a comforting hug. 

“Aww, how sweet!” 

Zuko groans. “Don’t you have a mom you need to be visiting?” 

##  Separate Ways: Toph

“So I guess I’ll see you guys later.”

“Bye, Toph,” says Katara. “I hope you have the best time with your mom.”

“Eh, it probably won’t be the best time.”

“Wow, Toph. Such a positive outlook.” 

“I’ll catch you guys later, I guess. See ya, Sugar Queen. See ya, Princey.” 

“You can’t go without giving us a hug.”

“You and Princey seem to be doing just fine without a third person to ruin your hug fest.” 

Katara grabs Toph by the arm and pulls her to them. If her cheeks are a little pink from Toph’s comment, Zuko doesn’t notice. 

##  Separate Ways: Katara 

They get tea together that afternoon. They have some spare time before Katara’s meeting with General How and Zuko’s meeting with Bosco. 

“I don’t want to spend my afternoon with a bear.”

“You have to. You and Kuei are  _ best friends _ now.”

He sighs. “Don’t remind me.” 

His uncle’s tea shop is packed when they first walk in. The bell clangs against the door behind them, and without looking up, Uncle calls, “I’ll be right with you!” 

“ _ Shit _ ,” Zuko curses under his breath. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“I never told my uncle I was leaving.”

“What?” 

“I walked out on a shift when Jet came by, and I never came back.” 

“Spirits, Zuko!”

“I know.” 

Just then, his uncle returns to seat them. His eyes lock on Zuko’s. “Ah, I see it’s Mr. ‘I’ll Be Right Back.’”

“Uncle, I am so so _so_ _ -” _

“Save it,” his uncle says. “Whatever you two want is on the house, so long as my nephew brews it himself. Will you be in for work this afternoon?”

Zuko shakes his head shamefully. “I have to meet the Earth King’s pet bear.” 

“Do I have to hire a new waiter?” his uncle asks, but there is no bite to his tone, only amusement. 

He nods.

His uncle seats them beside the window. As always, he makes sure there is a beautiful centerpiece for Katara. Zuko takes a minute to brew them some jasmine tea. He snags a couple tea cakes in the process because he knows how much Katara likes them. 

When he returns, she’s looking dreamily out the window at everyone passing by. “See anything good?” he asks to break her out of her spell.

“Yeah, all the people. Isn’t it great? They don't even know it yet, but everything's about to finally go in their favor." 

“It is great,” he agrees. 

She takes her teacup to her lips and blows the steam away. She could chill it if she wanted to, but she must be taking things slowly this afternoon before she slips into an undoubtedly fast-paced war room.

“Will you tell me all about Bosco later?”

“I won’t have to. You can meet him yourself when you meet me back at the palace.” 

“That’s true.” She sighs. “I won’t have time to get a new dress before dinner. The king wants to host us and the Kyoshi Warriors. It would have been the perfect place to wear the dress you got me.” 

It would have been. It still would be. “Maybe I can get you another one, like I said.”

Her face lights up. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he says unsurely. He might not be able to, but he’ll try. “It might not fit you as well as the last one since you can’t try it on, but I remember what it looked like, and I know the kinds of things you like...so, uh, yeah.”

“Thanks, Zuko.” 

“Of course.” 

She squeezes his hand from across the table. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Oh, are you leaving already?”

“Yeah, I’ve got to go.” 

His heart sinks. He thought they would have a little more time. “Good luck.”   


“Thanks. Good luck with Bosco.” 

“I’ll need it.” 

She laughs, and Zuko sets off to see if he can find a dress shop before he’s expected to arrive at the palace. 

##  The Dress Shop

A sea of silk stares back at him. Some skirts are full. Some have embroidery around the sleeves. Some sleeves fan out a mile wide. He tries to find the closest match to the dress Katara loved before. He finds a short-sleeved one in emerald green with a full skirt. 

“Ah, an interesting choice for a young man,” mentions the shopkeeper.

“It’s not for me. It’s for my friend.”

“A special friend surely.” 

He holds the dress up, trying to imagine Katara in it. He thinks it’ll fit her. He thinks it’ll look nice on her. Most importantly, he thinks she’ll like it. 

“Yeah, I guess. Can I get this wrapped up please?” 

“And leave without getting your special girlfriend shoes to match?” 

“No, thanks. I don’t know her size.”

He’s directed to a rack of shoes along the wall. “These stretch to accommodate the patron. And the color matches exactly.” 

“Okay, fine, throw a pair of those in. But I’m not getting anything else.” 

“Not even a hairpiece?”

“No.”

“A brooch?”

“No.”

“Your girlfriend will look rather plain without accessories.”

“She’ll be fine. Total please.” 

The shopkeeper realizes he isn’t as much of an idiot as he looks. “One silver.” 

##  The Kyoshi Warriors

Bosco is a bear, and while that fact alone is interesting, it is not interesting enough to sit in a room with him and hear Kuei go on and on about bears for an hour and a half. 

He’s finally able to excuse himself, by saying that he needs to get cleaned up before dinner. Kuei understands. He has a servant prepare a special room for his best friend to get ready.

“Is it okay if I look around the palace while she gets it ready?” 

“Sure. I’m going to keep Bosco company a little while longer.” 

It’s a nice palace. It may even be larger than the Royal Palace in the Fire Nation’s capital. He wonders about all the extras in this palace too. Does it have the underground prison cells? Does it have secret tunnels? Does it have entire rooms dedicated to the original benders of this nation’s element? Are there tapestries hanging from every wall, depicting the greatest achievements of Kuei’s lineage?

He turns a corner and realizes he is not alone. A member of the Kyoshi Warriors is stationed in front of one of the pillars. He doesn’t know any of them except Suki. He knows this one isn’t Suki.

He's about to introduce when she turns around. Then her eyes widen, and he sees who truly stands there beneath the uniform.

“Mai,” he says, begging. She looks frozen in place, like she can’t believe who’s run into her. “Mai, don’t tell Azula.”

Before she can reply, his sister appears from the other side of the pillar. 

“Well, well, well. The king  _ did _ mention he had a friend visiting. How fortuitous.” 

His pulse quickens, and every thought in his mind goes blank as his sister approaches him. Mai walks forward in sync with her. Over his shoulder, he spies Ty Lee. He manages one blast of fire before she disables him of his bending completely. Ty Lee looks hurt to deliver the blow that sends him falling to the ground. Mai looks hurt to watch. Azula doesn’t even flinch.

“The king said a lot of things, Zuzu.” 


	17. Part 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The conclusion of the Ba Sing Se arc!

##  The Catacombs

It would be beautiful down here if he wasn’t obsessed with finding an exit. As soon as he wakes up from whatever stupor his sister’s friends had him in, he scans the whole place for a hidden way out. 

He already knows he won’t find one. These catacombs are one of the oldest parts of Ba Sing Se. Earthbending is likely the only way to get in and out of this underground prison, and he isn’t an earthbender. Neither is Azula. That’s even more concerning to him because it means earthbenders in Ba Sing Se are helping his sister. He wonders who they could be. 

His sister comes to visit him, with his answer in tow. Four Dai Li agents flank her. He barely suppresses the urge to throw his head against the crystal wall. 

“Zuzu.”

“Azula.” 

“I have a few questions for you.” 

“I won’t answer them.” 

“Oh, I think you will,” Azula says. “Especially because we have the waterbender too.” 

He swallows thickly. He knows she isn’t lying. Enough time has passed for Katara’s scheduled arrival at the palace.

“And the king?” 

Azula smirks. “What king, brother?” She turns to her agents. “Do any of you remember a king?” 

They say nothing. 

“Well, _do_ you?” 

“No, Princess Azula.”

“So answer me this, Big Brother. Where’s the Avatar?” 

“He left Ba Sing Se.” 

“When does he return?” 

“When he masters the Avatar State. And then he’ll take away everything you think you’ve won.”

“So you’re still trying to defeat me? How long is it going to take you to remember that I’ll always be two steps ahead of you.”

_ You’ll never catch up.  _ But the stakes are higher than Father’s favor now. His sister has the city of Ba Sing Se in her hands. 

“Is Uncle in the city?”

“What makes you think that?”

She shrugs. “I can’t find him anywhere else. Father had a sneaking suspicion he would have fled here, where he’d be untouchable...until now.” 

“I haven’t seen him.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not.” 

“I have your waterbender,” she reminds him again. “And she’s very confused.” 

“I’ll tell you anything you want if you bring her here.” 

“You’re not in any position to be making demands.”

“What’s the harm? Neither one of us can earthbend, and that’s the only way out of here.”

“Tell me everything, and then I’ll decide.” 

“That’s not how it works.” 

“I’ve entertained this long enough.” She starts to walk away, followed by her agents. He knows in his heart that this will be his sister’s only visit. He won’t have a chance to ask again. 

“Wait. Uncle’s working in a tea shop.”

“Which tea shop?” 

“The Jasmine Dragon, in the upper ring.” 

“Oh, they make good tea,” one of the agents supplies. “The owner is a real nice man.”

“Uncle  _ is  _ the owner.” 

“And the other members you travel with? Where are they?” 

“All outside Ba Sing Se.”  _ Except Toph _ . He hopes she stays safe.

“Now, Zuzu, was that so hard?” 

##  The Catacombs Part 2

She falls to the ground in a huff when the Dai Li agents push her through the wall of the catacombs. 

He can tell she’s confused at first, until her eyes settle on him. They rush to each other, arms wide open. 

“Zuko!” Her arms clasp around his neck while he entwines his around her middle, lifting her into the air. 

“Are you okay?” he asks. 

“I’m fine. What about you?”

“I’m fine too,” he insists. They finally release each other to sit side-by-side against the wall. 

“Your sister’s here,” she tells him. 

“I noticed.”

“And she has the Dai Li on her side.”

“Sure does.” 

She rests her head against his shoulder. “And I bet you’ve already tried getting out of here.”

“Yep. It’s an earthbending-only kind of cell.” 

She sighs. “They took my water from me anyways.” He notices now that she doesn’t have her usual pouch at her hip. 

“This is going to be the worst thing we’ve been up against,” he tells her.

“The Siege of the North was pretty bad.”

“At least we had Aang then.”

“We still have Aang,” she reminds him. “He’s coming back.”

Zuko says nothing. He thinks that maybe Aang would be better off not returning to Ba Sing Se at all. 

“It’s going to be okay, Zuko. We’ve faced Azula before.” 

But there’s something decidedly different about this time. He can feel it, and though Katara’s trying to remain positive, he can tell she feels it too.

##  The Catacombs Part 3

“I spy with my little eye-“

“Katara, I told you I’m not playing.”

“Come on! What else is there to do in here?”

“Try to find a way out!”

“We already established it’s a dense earthen dungeon with crystals everywhere. Not many escape routes. Now, I spy with my little eye...something...green.”

Despite himself, he humors her. “A crystal.”

“How’d you know?”

“Lucky guess.”

“Okay, your turn now.”

“I’m not playing.”

“Ugh, why do you have to be such a sour platypus hog?” 

He laughs at her, at her silliness. “My sourness is the least of my worries.”

She taps her shoulder playfully against his. “I’m a little sour too. I had to miss dinner. I’m starving.”

“Me too. And I never got to give you your gift.”

She smiles. “You got me something?”

“For dinner.” Her wide eyes make him a little nervous as he explains himself. “Uh, it was a dress and some shoes, you know, since your other fancy dress got stolen,” he admits shyly. 

“You didn’t have to do that.”

_ I wanted to _ . “It doesn’t matter. We’re my sister’s prisoners now. I want her to get down here and face me!” The last part, he yells, though he knows Azula never rises to angry threats, if she can hear him at all down here. 

Katara jumps to her feet too. “Azula, we’re down here whenever you’re ready to face us!” she yells. Her voice echoes throughout the cave. It’s comforting, the way she maintains this level of control in the situation. 

“Wait til Uncle gets here,” he mentions out loud, though he’s mostly musing to himself. Uncle’s bending is years beyond his, and some of the demonstrations he saw as a child make him certain he’s far more skilled than Azula. If anyone can defeat her, it’s Uncle Iroh.

“Your uncle’s coming?”

He nods. “Maybe not, but Azula knows he’s here.”

“How?”

_ I told her. I gave him up just so I could see your face. I tell myself it’s what he would have wanted me to do, but I don’t know that for sure. I just know I had to make sure you were okay.  _

“Her spies. She has them everywhere now,” he tells Katara.

##  The Intervention 

“Do you hear that?” she whispers softly as her ear moves closer to the crystalline wall. 

“What?”

Immediately, the wall breaks open, and he pulls Katara away from it just in time from being hit with debris. The inconvenience is welcome, however, when they see Aang and Uncle Iroh. 

Katara rushes to Aang as he runs to his uncle. He sighs in relief. “I’m so happy to see you. I was sure Azula would have gotten to you.” 

“Oh, she did,” his uncle informs him. “But I escaped her capture and went straight to the young Avatar’s apartment. I knew you were in danger.” 

“Thank you so much for coming!” Katara exclaims, embracing Uncle as well. “Wait, Aang, does this mean you mastered the Avatar State?” 

“Mostly.”

“Mostly? What does that mean?”

“Look, I saw that you guys were in trouble. All of Ba Sing Se is in trouble. We’ll deal with this, and then I can go back to training with the guru.” 

“So what’s the plan?” Katara asks. 

“Oh, yes, I’m sure we’d  _ all _ like to know.” Damn Azula. Damn her for all eternity. She’s even bold enough to approach them alone; that’s how confident she is. Her Dai Li aren’t with her, and neither are Mai and Ty Lee. “I’m shocked. None of you heard me approach? I thought you were all master benders. Well except you, Zuzu. You left before you could achieve mastery...not that you would.”

“Do not let her rile you up, nephew.”

“Uncle, Zuko, the Avatar, and Ba Sing Se all on the same day. I don’t think I could make Father prouder if I wielded Sozin’s comet myself.”

“Enjoy it now because it’s not gonna happen,” Katara says steely. 

“Oh, it’s not?”

The Dai Li agents enter now, through the same rift in the wall Aang had created. 

_ Of course _ , Zuko thinks disconsolately.  _ She was only stalling.  _

They trap Uncle first, in handcuffs of rock as well as a strip of rock across his mouth. “We wouldn’t want anymore incidents from the Dragon of the West,” says Azula. 

“Release him!” Zuko demands, assuming his bending stance. Aang begins a power struggle with the Dai Li agents. Three of them work to keep the restraints on Uncle, while Aang strains to bend them away. 

The preoccupation of the Dai Li agents, however, proves to be the perfect time for Katara and Zuko to jointly strike on Azula. 

The catacombs immediately become sweltering as Azula’s blue fire darts towards the two of them. The heat is perfect. It means Katara now has moisture to work with, in the form of sweat. Zuko’s main objective is defense. He counteracts Azula’s attack. A couple times he is quick enough to launch his own, but his primary goal is to shield Katara while she bends a few of her deadly ice daggers at Azula’s weak spots. Unfortunately, it isn’t working. 

Azula pushes them out of the catacombs, through the underground tunnel system. It must be an oversight on her part, or perhaps one of her larger plans, but the tunnels have an underground river running through them. He spares a glance back at Katara. She looks back at him, bends the sweat from their faces, and smiles. 

##  The Avatar State Part 2

Aang escapes to help them. His uncle is not with him. Zuko grits his teeth and hopes that his anger makes his fire burn that much hotter. It still isn’t blue; it still isn’t as hot as Azula’s, but it still burns.

Azula’s troops march in as well, her Ba Sing Se-bred spies who know these tunnels better than anyone. Zuko wonders how they can even flock to her. What has she promised them, to make them abandon their Earth Kingdom loyalties and turn to the Fire Nation’s princess? More likely, what has she threatened? 

“There’s too many of them,” Aang says, diverting flying rocks and keeping the front line of agents at bay with his powerful airbending. 

“We can’t give up!” shouts Katara. 

“There’s too many! And we still need to find Sokka and Toph!” 

The reminder of Sokka and Toph imbues vulnerability in Katara. Zuko can see the exact second Katara realizes that they may not be able to win this. 

“Hey,” Aang calls. “You guys are so important to me! Team Avatar forever right?” Before the two of them can ask what he means, his eyes and tattoos glow blue. Zuko and Katara know by now to shield themselves from the Avatar State. The Dai Li agents back retreat once the powerful winds pick up, as Aang rises higher and higher into the air. 

The Avatar State instills fear in any sane person who’s never witnessed it before. 

Too late, Zuko remembers that  _ Azula _ isn’t sane. A blue bolt of lightning strikes the Avatar in the back. 

##  A Strong Motivation Part 2 

Tears stream down Katara’s face. She cries out as Aang falls to the ground, bending a wave of water to catch him. 

Azula’s smiling. Her eyes lock on Zuko’s. She extends her arms meticulously in front of her, towards him, and he knows by now she’s summoning more lightning. He is so angry and vengeful that he stands there and remembers the stance he saw in the book taken from Mai’s library. The lightning comes, but he is not worried about it all. How can things get any worse than a lightning strike to the Avatar? 

It enters through his arm, more powerful than anything he’s ever experienced. It flows through his body, without reaching his heart, in the fluid movements he’s often seen in Katara’s bending, and extends out through his other arm, back towards Azula. 

It doesn’t reach her completely; his aim is shaky from the control it takes to redirect the lightning. It is enough to make her lose her stance and throw her to the ground. It is enough to let Zuko rush to Katara, who is tearfully cradling Aang’s body. 

“You have to go,” he tells her. 

" _We_ have to go." 

"I need to stay behind."

"No!"

"Yes."

“We can face her together!” 

“Katara,” he begins, “there’s no winning this one. Go. I’ll make sure you and Aang get out safely.”

“No, no,” she protests, grabbing his hand. “I’ll stay with you. I’ll help you hold them off.”

He shakes his head in frustration. She can be so stubborn. 

“Zuko!” 

“You _ have  _ to go. You have to heal Aang. He needs you right now.”

Normally he’d do anything to make her tears go away. But he can’t give her what she wants, not today, not if he wants to keep them safe.

Zuko looks back at Azula, who’s wiping the dirt from her face and getting back up on her feet. Katara sets Aang’s body gently on the ground and rushes to him. She clings to him, grasping at the sleeves of his robe. Maybe she’s trying to pull him with her, but his feet stay firmly planted to the ground. He knows what he has to do to protect them. 

He can hear the footfalls of Dai Li agents echoing through the tunnel again. They must realize now that Azula's subdued Aang and the Avatar State. Another minute, and Katara and Aang will be captured as well. 

“I’ll be alright,” he promises. “Go.” But he soon finds out she clings to him for a different reason. She isn't trying to drag him away. Instead, she pulls his face down for a bruising kiss that he wishes could be so much longer. He wishes he could have understood what she was doing. By the time he does, she’s whispering, “this isn’t goodbye” and rushing back to collect Aang. 

It fuels him to fight Azula and the agents for as long as possible. He needs to buy enough time for Katara and Aang to escape. He holds his ground for as long as he can. It’s some of the most powerful bending he ever displays. The motivation behind it is the strongest he's ever experienced. 


	18. Part 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko returns to the Fire Nation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're entering the angsty section now, folks. Hope you continue to enjoy the story! Your support on this has been incredible!

##  The Prince of Fire 

His wrists are bound when Azula approaches him. He’s not like Uncle. He can’t bend fire from his belly and exhale it through his breath. He can't fend them off anymore. 

Azula’s panting. Sweat trickles down her brow. At least he gave her a fight. 

_ Never give up without a fight.  _

“There are two ways we can do this, Zuzu. Either you go back in chains, or you don’t. Simple as that.”

“You’re lying.”

“No, I’m not.” She turns to her Dai Li agents. “Release him,” she says.

They withdraw their hold on him immediately. He massages each wrist with the opposite hand to relieve some of the irritation. 

“The Fire Nation wants their prince back. The one mother stole.”

“And Father?”

“Father wants his son. You _are_ his firstborn after all.”

“Father doesn’t want me.”

“Family is family, Zuko. The Fire Nation is where you belong. Your actions are forgivable, you know. You’ve been brainwashed by your captors. Of course you would act traitorously. Perhaps returning home to your people will help put things into perspective.”

He doesn’t believe her, not after everything he’s experienced, but at least he’s walking free. He can work with that. 

“Okay.” 

Azula smiles. “Come on, Brother. Let’s go home.” 

She escorts him, limping from exhaustion, through the city she's just conquered.

##  The Prince of Fire Part 2 

They make him change his clothes on the ship back to the Fire Nation. The Prince of Fire can’t be seen dressed like someone from Ba Sing Se. His hair is oiled and fashioned into the typical Fire Nation topknot. His crown is fastened to this hair.

"How did you get my crown?" he asks his attendant.

"The Princess Azula sent for it." 

"Really?" 

"Yes, Prince Zuko." 

When he looks in the mirror, he can’t help but feel it looks right. He always looked out of place in his blue Water Tribe clothes, no matter how comfortable they were. He wanted to belong in them so badly, but he always felt like an outsider when he wore them. His Earth Kingdom clothes made him feel funny, but this reflection…no matter how many other molds he’s tried to fill, he is the one and only crown prince of the Fire Nation. 

Even if he isn’t proud to be. 

##  The Princess of Fire

“You bend well, Brother. I’m impressed, considering you got off to such a late start.”

His knuckles turn white against the railing of the ship. He doesn’t respond to her. She still hasn’t told him where their uncle is.

“I’d say you’re even a master now. Isn’t that exciting? Father will be so proud.” 

“Father’s going to kill me.”

“Zuko, I told you. He is willing to forgive your treason.”

“When has Father forgiven anyone?” he reminds her. 

“I didn’t tell him about your role with the Avatar. I told him that we uncovered plans for the upcoming invasion. I told him  _ you _ disclosed that information. He was very pleased to hear that.”

“Why would you tell him that?” he demands. “I didn’t tell you anything. And I helped the others escape.”

Azula picks at invisible dirt beneath her fingernails. “What can I say? It’s been lonely back home. No brother, no cousin, no uncle, no _mother_...you wouldn’t happen to know where she is, would you?”

He sighs. “I thought you might have an idea.”

“Hmm. Well isn’t that something. I suppose it will remain a mystery.” 

She may know something. Azula always lies. But maybe, this time, she’s as clueless as he is.

##  The Prince of Fire Part 3

Li and Lo insist he cannot return home without a proper welcome. His sister smiles at him from across the platform. Her fingers linger on the curtain, waiting for her cue. He wishes he could stand as confidently as she does. Blood thrums through his ears. His stomach feels like led. At least he doesn’t have to speak. He doesn’t think he could. He’s so nervous. He shouldn’t be, he tells himself. He’s standing in his homeland. 

_ Ba Sing Se has fallen. This war is over. And it is all thanks to your Princess, the clever and beautiful Azula! _

_ But she did not do it alone. Your prince has returned to you! He was stolen from you in the middle of the night, but in his years away, he infiltrated Ba Sing Se and installed his own government, breaking the city down from the inside. When the Avatar arrived, he was no match for Fire Lord Ozai’s firstborn. Welcome home, Zuko, your Prince of Fire! _

He doesn’t know what’s louder: the crowd or the beating of his heart.  __

##  The Nation of Fire 

His father knows he’s here, but he hasn’t seen him yet. He must wait for a summons from the Fire Lord before's allowed an audience with him in the throne room, even if it is technically a part of his accommodations. He still doesn’t know if he’s a prisoner. Two guards ( _ attendants _ , according to Azula) escort him everywhere he goes. They present him with a schedule each morning. 

_ Breakfast _ . He eats with Azula, Mai, Ty Lee, Li, and Lo. 

_ Training _ . They assign him time to practice firebending with Master Chizem. Master Chizem assesses his forms, develops his bending. Azula always watches. 

_ Tea _ . He takes it in the gardens right before lunch, a respite from the intensity of his training. The tea doesn’t taste as good as Uncle’s. The gardens aren’t nearly as beautiful as when his mother was in charge of them. 

_ Lunch _ . He takes it alone in his room. The guards stand outside the door. 

_ Lessons _ . He never completed education befitting a prince of the Fire Nation. Tutors instruct him in the library, piling on reading assignment after reading assignment. The texts he reads never depict an unbiased account. 

_ Dinner _ . He eats alone once again. He is not welcome in the dining room with the others yet. His father eats in the dining room. His father hasn’t summoned him. Afterwards, he readies himself for bed. He tries to get to sleep as fast as he can so he can keep himself from longing. When he starts thinking of Aang and Sokka and Toph, and especially Katara, he can't sleep. He’ll read most nights when sleep doesn’t come, or he’ll meditate, or practice his swordsmanship. He’ll do anything to keep himself busy, but always, he falls asleep with longing. 

##  The Past Princess 

He tries to visit his mother’s apartment one day. He wants to walk in and feel like the child who used to run to her when he got scared. He wants to feel close to her. Maybe he’ll be able to have something of hers finally. As he walks out of his room to the west wing of the palace, the guards stop him.

“You do not have access, Prince Zuko.”

“These were my mother’s quarters. I want to see them.”

“You do not have access,” they repeat. 

It's the first time he's been removed from a part of the palace. It's frustrating. He knows he won't run into his father. There's no harm in visiting his mother's old rooms. “On whose orders?”

“The Princess Azula.” 

“Why?”

“We don’t ask questions,” a guard tells him.

“You should,” Zuko says.  _ Maybe if any of you asked questions, we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in.  _

His mother asked questions. His mother wouldn’t let the Fire Lord kill her son just because he was her Lord. Orders shouldn’t be carried out just because they’re from the Lord. 

##  The Present Princess 

“We should spar, Zuzu,” Azula says to him tauntingly over tea with Mai and Ty Lee. “Don’t you think we should spar, girls?”

Ty Lee claps her hands together. “Oh, I just love some friendly competition.”

“Sounds boring to me. We already know how it’s going to turn out,” adds Mai. 

Zuko’s jaw tightens. A one-on-one fight with Azula--on one hand, he doesn’t want to back down from her challenge, but he knows he’ll just humiliate himself. Azula’s always been ahead. 

“I suppose you’re right. We did have our little spar in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se, and of course, we know how that turned out.” 

She’ll hold this over his head for the rest of his life. These three at this table know his true allegiances, and yet they keep quiet for a reason unknown to him. He never switched sides like his father believes. He never gave them the details of the invasion. He had fought them all until the bitter end, and he had lost. 

_ Tell me the truth, Yue. Am I a prisoner?  _

He’d asked that of Yue so long ago, and now he knows that if you have to ask, you’re not one. You  _ know _ when you’re a prisoner. He knows. 

“A little sparrowkeet told me that Father wanted to see you,” Azula says, changing the subject. She has the control of every situation. Azula decides when they drink tea. She decides when they eat. They come when she calls. They listen when she speaks. “Has he summoned you yet?”

“No,” he replies. 

“He will,” his sister says surely. Zuko wonders if she has control over Ozai too.  __

##  The Future Princess (According to Azula)

He’s allowed to walk around the grounds with Mai sometimes. Azula even encourages it. He knows why of course. He doesn’t dislike Mai's company; in fact, it reminds him of how easily they got along when they were children. 

“Has Azula told you your role during the invasion yet?” She asks mundanely, as if they’re discussing the weather and not war. 

“I wasn’t aware I had one.” 

“I don’t know. She hasn’t told me either. I just know where I’m supposed to be.”

“And where’s that?”

“I’m not allowed to say.”

“Helpful.” 

“Sorry if I’m not about to give you sensitive information.”

He shrugs. “I understand why you can’t.”

“In fact, I think they want to send you outside of the capital for the eclipse. But don’t count on it. That's just something I heard while I was tuning in and out of the war meetings.” 

“Where would they send me?”

“Do I look like the Fire Lord to you? I don’t know.” 

_ Speaking of the Fire Lord… _

“Prince Zuko! Prince Zuko!” One of his guards (attendants) shouts. 

Mai groans at the interruption. “What is it?” 

“Fire Lord Ozai has summoned you to the throne room.”

His stomach drops. 

“I guess you’re about to find out,” Mai says. 

“Guess so. See you around.”

“And Zuko?”

“Yeah?”

“Be smart,” she bids him.

##  The Lord of Fire

His father is surrounded by a wall of fire, the same wall he remembers bowing to whenever his family had an audience with Fire Lord Azulon. The heat spans throughout the throne room. It’s as stifling as he remembers as a child. 

His father says nothing when he first enters the room. It’s impossible to see his face through the flames. Though he is a hostage of his own nation, he remembers how to act in the presence of the Lord. He falls to his knees and presses his forehead to the floor in proper submission.

“Fire Lord Ozai,” he salutes. 

“My son,” hisses Ozai. “You have returned to us at last.”

“Yes, Father.”

“I have freed you from a prison sentence to give you the chance to redeem yourself. I have heard troubling reports of your actions in your away, reports I would like to cast aside. As we prepare for the invasion, I have a special task for you.”

He waits patiently. He knows somewhere behind the tapestries, Azula is eavesdropping. She always did as a child, and not a single thing has changed about her. 

“I want you to lead an attack on the North Pole. My father never successfully defeated them, and neither did my grandfather. I had high hopes for Admiral Zhao, and he failed me. But you are different. I’ve heard the people of the Northern Water Tribe trust you as one of their own. I want to use that to our advantage. I want you to succeed where others have failed.”

“You want me to lead an attack on the North?” he asks hesitantly, disappointed in the way his voice wavers. 

“Was anything I said unclear?.”

“But why?”

The fire surges. “ _ Why _ ?” he demands. “You question your Lord?”

“They’re not bothering anyone! They stick to themselves! The Northern Water Tribe is no threat to your reign,” Zuko insists desperately, knowing he’s defending himself to an unmovable man. He’s defending himself to the man who would have sacrificed him to his grandfather. 

Through gritted teeth, Lord Ozai explains, “They haven’t fallen yet. As long as they remain unbroken, they are a symbol of our failure. You will besiege them.”

Zuko stands. He can’t say the next words while bowing. “No, I won’t.”

In all of Zuko’s childhood, he can never remember his grandfather letting down the throne room's wall of fire. During parties and other royal affairs, he saw his grandfather’s face but  _ never  _ in the throne room. 

When Zuko defies the order, Fire Lord Ozai lets the wall of fire fall. 


	19. Part 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to apologize for the sadness! Hope everyone's doing well!

##  The Fever

He’s cold. His body’s cold. So why is his face so hot? Why does the ground feel wet? Why can’t he see? Is that Uncle calling for him?

“Uncle?”

He’s warm. Too warm. He’s burning from the inside out and nothing can stop it. When he breathes, it’s the same breath as the ancient dragons who wielded fire long before it ever graced his veins. 

“Uncle?”

A cool hand touches his face. It hurts. It all hurts so much.

He can hear his uncle’s voice, but it’s so far away he can barely make out the words. When he looks up, he sees Katara. He remembers the warmth of her kiss before their separation. He remembers her. 

“Katara?”

“Katara’s not here, Prince Zuko.”

But that can’t be right. He just saw her. 

“How are you feeling?”

He shudders and slips back to unconsciousness before he can reply. 

##  The Fever Part 2

“Your mother loved dragons,” Avatar Roku says. “She was absolutely fascinated by them. It was her greatest disappointment to learn that the Fire Nation had lost favor with the dragons.”

So many questions whirl through Zuko’s head, but he’s too tired to ask any of them aloud.

_ How do you know my mother? Why did we lose favor with the dragons? Why did you call me your son in the Foggy Swamp? _

Avatar Roku clarifies, “ _ One _ of her greatest disappointments.” 

##  A Family of Traitors

“ _ Tell me _ ,” he growls at his uncle in the dark of his prison cell. 

“Tell you what, Prince Zuko?”

“Everything!” he screams, even though the muscles in the left side of his face protest beneath the wound. 

He wants to know what happened to his mother. He wants to know what the White Lotus is. He wants to know his uncle’s plan. He wants to know if his father will attack the North Pole when the comet comes. He wants to know why his father’s on the throne. He wants to know why his father burned the skin off half his face. 

Uncle sighs. “Okay. It’s time you know.”

He waits in his corner, listening intently for his uncle to continue. 

“My father had planned to kill you as a punishment,” his uncle confesses. 

_ Grandpa’s gonna kill you _ . 

“Azula wasn’t lying,” he whispers to himself.

“That’s when your mother sent you away. She had connections.”

“Through the White Lotus?”

“Yes, through the White Lotus. I don't think anyone ever told you this, but your mother is Avatar Roku’s granddaughter.”

“What?”

“That’s why she was forced to marry your father. She was believed to strengthen his line. Unknown to them, she was raised to be against the war. She’d been an important member of the Order of the White Lotus, and they encouraged her to marry him in case she could convert him. The Order has wanted a member of the royal family for years.”

Zuko scoffs.

“You doubt, but your father always had a soft spot for your mother.”

“He would never join something like that.”

“No,” his uncle admits, “but after I returned from my spirit journey, she converted  _ me _ . I visited her often in prison.” 

“Do you know where she is? All you White Lotus members keep in touch.”

“Not as much as you would think. Discretion is best. I am afraid I don’t know where she is, and she did not tell me where she was heading when I freed her.”

“ _ You _ freed her?”

His uncle smiles. “Why do you think I was wanted for treason?” He coughs again. The air down here is stifling. “It took me a long while to return to the Fire Nation after my son…”

“I know, Uncle.”

“When I returned, it was nearly three years after your disappearance. Your mother had been kept a prisoner, interrogated frequently for your location. She could not tell them. She made sure she didn’t know where you were sent.”

“All that time she never knew?”

“She only knew that you would be taken first to the Western Air Temple and then a separate location. Once my father realized that she truly didn’t know, he sentenced her to death. That is where your father intervened. Like I said, he always had a soft spot for your mother.”

“My father didn’t…” He doesn't finish the sentence. The indication of patricide is too much fr him.

“He didn't what? Take his brother’s throne? Burn his son? Imprison his wife? Killing our father is just another of his crimes.” 

“And when you came home, you freed my mother.”

“Yes, Prince Zuko. You see, you come from a family of traitors to the crown.” 

##  A Lonely Cell

“Where are you taking him?” Zuko shouts, desperately, like a caged animal, as the guards come and shove his uncle out of his neighboring cell. The two of them haven’t spoken to each other much since his uncle’s confession, but they can’t take him away. 

“Uncle!”

“Do not fear, Prince Zuko,” his uncle says calmly. 

He’s not afraid. He’s furious. If his hands weren’t chained, if his face wasn’t burned off, the guards would know just how furious he is. 

“Fire Lord Ozai thought the two of you might be too comfortable down here,” a guard replies. He kicks Zuko in the face. 

Zuko vows to kill him one day. 

##  Resignation

He’s not well. He was thrown in this cell immediately after his father struck him down with fire, and he doesn’t know how long it’s been. His face throbs in pain. His hair falls in singed tatters. The air reeks of black mold. The little food he receives makes him sick, and the water is gray. 

He sleeps more often than he’s awake, against his will. 

He’ll never kill anyone, he realizes. He’ll die here. He can feel it coming.

##  The Fever Part 3

“Okay, I know you’re a _seasoned_ dancer, but go easy on me.” 

Zuko would know that voice anywhere, especially with the teasing lilt that’s as specific to her as a fingerprint. “You’ll be fine,” he tells her, taking her hand in his, leading her past the banquet table, to the open floor where all the couples dance. 

She’s wearing a white fur dress, and her hair’s kept loose, adorned with pearls. She’s never looked prettier. Maybe, by the end of the night he’ll work up the courage to tell her. This is their date after all, the date they never had, to the Festival of the Full Moon. 

He spins her to the beat of the drum, pulls her in towards him, revels in the smile on her face. “See, I told you. You’re a great dancer,” he assures her. 

Her hands travel up his arms, higher, to loop around his neck. Even in the crowd, she’s the only one he sees. “Where are we going next?” she asks. 

“Wherever you want,” he promises. 

When he wakes from this particular fever dream, in a pool of sweat and filth, he wishes he had died in his sleep, imagining Katara in his arms. 

##  Pace Yourself

The food falls through the cell’s slot the same way it always does. In the beginning, he was starving, and he’d scrape the food off the floor. Now he’s completely lost his appetite. He barely has the strength to crawl forward and eat; he certainly doesn’t have the will. 

“I’d pace yourself if I were you. All of us have jobs elsewhere for the next few days. Until then, this is all you get.” 

“And don’t get any ideas while we’re gone,” another guard adds. It’s the same guard that kicked Zuko’s face when his uncle was taken away. “Your bending won’t work.”

The guards think this piece of information will discourage Zuko, but it gives him the push to eat a few bites of his food. They've unknowingly let him know the eclipse is coming. He needs his strength. 

##  Footsteps

He can hear footsteps--fast, impatient footsteps echoing through the stone. No one should be here. All the guards have been reassigned to the invasion force. 

“Zuko?” a voice calls insistently, a voice he hasn’t truly heard in ages. He jumps to his feet so quickly, his head spins.

“Katara?”

“Zuko!”

“Katara! I’m over here!”

This doesn’t feel like one of his hallucinations. 

The footsteps ring louder. They’re getting closer. He keeps calling her name until she’s right in front of him, using her waterbending to break through his chains. 

She isn’t one of his hallucinations.

When he’s free, her eyes linger on his face. Zuko still hasn’t seen the damage. He wants to ask how bad it is (it feels awful, and Master Pakku used to say the wounds that hurt the worst hardly ever looked as bad as the ones that barely hurt at all), but before he can ask her anything, Katara’s arms wrap around him. Her hot tears seep into his neck. 

“Come on,” she says, pressing a soft kiss to his shoulder, “let’s get out of here.”

  
  


##  Breaking the Silence

Katara rests her head on his shoulder the whole way to the Western Air Temple. Aang won’t speak to anyone. Sokka won’t look him in the eye. He knows everyone’s thinking about the people they left behind. He can’t help but feel like his presence makes it worse. If the Fire Lord’s willing to maim his own son, what fate awaits the foreign invaders? 

He breaks the silence, whispering to Katara shakily, “How bad is it?”

She peers up at him. Her eyes turn glassy. She doesn’t have to say anything. She opens her mouth to speak, and then immediately closes it, opting to say nothing. But Zuko already knows. It’s written all over her face. 


End file.
